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JOHN  ADAMS 


A  CHARACTER 
SKETCH 


SAMUEL  WILLARD 
M.  D..  LL.D. 


WITH  SUPPLEMENTARY 
ESSAY,  BY 

G.  MERCER  ADAM. 


INCLUDING    ANECDOTES, 
CHARACTERISTICS, 
AND  CHRONOLOGY, 


CHICAGO 

FREDERICK  J.  DRAKE  &  Co. 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1898. 
By  THE  UNIVERSITY  ASSOCIATION 

Copyright,  1903, 
By  H.  G.  CAMPBELL  PUBLISHING  Co. 


IN  the  building  of  a  house,  one  man  must  be  supreme. 
The  plan  must  be  the  product  of  one  mind;  if  there 
are  suggestions  of  other  minds  as  to  plan  and  details,  they 
are  accepted  or  rejected,  so  that  one  mind  finally  arranges 
all.  If  the  owner  of  the  house  chooses  to  leave  the  mat- 
ter to  an  architect  after  telling  him  in  general  what  he 
wants, the  architect's  one  mind  perfects  plan  and  details. 

We  often  speak  of  the  building  of  a  state,  and  compare 
a  state  to  a  grand  structure,  a  house,  or  temple.  But 
the  constitution  of  a  state  is  never  the  work  of  one  man. 
Even  if  a  man  is  called  an  absolute  ruler,  an  autocrat, 
czar,  emperor,  or  tyrant,  he  really  cannot  do  everything 
at  his  own  will.  Even  in  Turkey  and  Persia  the  sultan 
and  shah  find  that  men  can  not  be  moved  as  if  they  were 
chessmen  or  checkennen.  It  has  been  said  that  Russia 
is  an  autocracy,  tempered  by  assassination.  Revolt  and 
revolution  dog  the  steps  of  tyranny. 

We  have  all  laughed  at  the  story  of  the  county  officers 
who  passed  three  resolutions:  (i)  "Resolved,  that  we  will 
have  a  new  jail:  (2)  Resolved,  that  the  materials  of  the 
old  jail  shall  be  used  iu  building  the  new  jail:  (3)  Re- 


973093 


6  JOHN  ADAMS. 

solved,  that  the  old  jail  shall  be  occupied  until  the  new 
jail  is  built."  However  funny  this  story  may  be  as  ap- 
plied to  a  material  building,  it  sets  forth  the  actual  prob- 
lem of  the  real  statesman. 

As  a  nation  advances  in  civilization,  in  knowledge,  in 
wealth,  in  moral  and  spiritual  life,  its  former  institutions 
and  customs  become  the  old  jail:  the  new  life  must  be 
expressed  in  new  laws  and  regulations,  which  the  true 
statesman  prepares.  In  doing  so,  he  retains  all  that  is 
suitable  of  the  old  ways;  and  it  will  be  found  that  his 
changes  and  new  enactments  are  few  in  comparison  with 
the  entire  mass  of  customs  and  habits  of  his  people:  this 
is  occupying  the  old  jail  while  the  new  structure  is  erect- 
ed. And  his  changes  are  in  the  line  of  the  healthy  ten- 
dencies of  the  existing  life  of  the  community:  he  is  thus 
building  the  new  out  of  the  materials  of  the  old.  In 
time,  his  new  structure  will  become  an  old  jail  to  a  later 
age,  cramping  and  confining  it.  Then  the  same  course 
of  events  ensues. 

In  several  instances,  communities  of  the  ancient 
Greeks,  upon  finding  themselves  in  political  difficulties, 
selected  their  wisest  man  and  gave  him  full  authority  to 
make  new  laws,  and  even  a  new  constitution;  that  is,  to 
revise  fundamentally  the  form  of  govern meiTt.  At  Ath- 
ens, nearly  600  years  before  Christ,  this  power  was  con- 
ferred upon  Solon,  who  proved  to  be  the  wisest  of  all 
single  legislators.  Some  of  his  changes  were  so  great 
that  it  was  said  he  had  moved  the  country  with  an  earth- 
quake. They  were  like  our  revolutionary  war  in  de- 
stroying the  exclusive  power  of  the  nobles,  and  like  our 


JOHN  ADAMS.  7 

civil  war  in  giving  freedom  to  a  mass  of  slaves.  Wise 
as  he  was,  he  talked  of  some  of  his  plans  with  his  friends, 
and  doubtless  gave  some  heed  to  their  objections  and 
suggestions.  And  this  is  the  crowning  proof  of  his  wis- 
dom: he  recognized  the  necessity  of  further  changes, 
saying  that  he  had  not  given  the  Athenians  the  best  pos- 
sible laws,  but  the  best  laws  for  them  as  they  then  were. 
And  after  he  had  governed  them  several  years  and  ac- 
customed them  to  his  laws,  he  left  them  and  went  out  of 
the  country,  that  they  might  use  the  new  freedom  them- 
selves; for  he  saw  that  it  would  be  of  no  use  to  give 
them  free  institutions  if  he  must  stay  in  Athens  to  keep 
them  going. 

Modern  states,  of  whatever  fqnn,  are  the  results  of  the 
thoughts  and  work  of  innumerable  men,  working  in  dif- 
ferent ways,  often  in  collision  and  opposition  to  each 
other,  sometimes  in  civil  war  and  revolution.  The  study 
of  history  has  its  greatest  interest  in  the  exhibition  of 
this  fact.  Jewish,  Greek,  Roman,  Keltic,  and  Teutonic 
elements  appear  in  our  daily  life,  in  our  laws,  in  our  con- 
stitutions. 

The  excellence  of  the  work  of  the  makers  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  came  from  their  taking 
ideas,  more  or  less  familiar  to  the  people,  and  suited  to 
American  and  Colonial  conditions;  and  these  they 
wrought  into  a  practical  and  practicable  form  and 
scheme.  If  the  geography  of  the  country  had  been 
something  else,  if  the  history  of  the  settlement  and 
the  growth  of  the  colonies  had  been  different,  if  the 
people  had  not  been  of  common  and  cognate  origin  from 


8  JOHN  ADAMS. 

the  British  Islands  and  the  Netherlands,  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment would  have  been  something  else,  perhaps  not 
even  a  republic. 

American  young  people,  and  old  people  too,  if  they 
have  not  thought  over  the  question  carefully,  are  apt  to 
think  that  all  governments  should  be  like  ours,  demo- 
cratic federated  republican.  If  they  should  hear  that  in 
the  western  half  of  China  the  people  had  set  up  a  repub- 
lic, they  would  rejoice  at  the  spread  of  free  government. 
But  experience  shows  that  republics  are  suited  only  to 
very  small  communities  imbued  with  a  strong  and  narrow 
sense  of  patriotism  and  cohesion,  or  to  well-trained  lar- 
ger peoples. 

Scores  of  republics  have  flourished  a  while  and  then 
have  gone  to  wreck;  some  have  gone  upon  the  rocks  im- 
mediately. In  1789,  France  entered  upon  the  path  of 
revolution;  she  soon  killed  her  king,  drove  out  or  slew 
•  her  nobles  and  priests,  and  with  a  great  flourish  pro- 
claimed Liberty,  Equality  and  Fraternity.  In  less  than 
ten  years  thereafter,  she  was  under  the  military  despotism 
of  the  first  Napoleon  of  iron  hand  and  stony  heart:  then 
she  recalled  her  kings;  then  set  up  another  republic; 
then  succumbed  to  another  military  tyranny,  which  en- 
ded in  1870;  and  only  within  the  last  twenty  years  has 
it  seemed  to  hopeful  Americans  that  France  is  to  be 
henceforth  a  republic,  but  with  certainty  of  many  diffi- 
culties to  b'e  overcome.  Yet  no  one  will  deny  the  high 
intelligence  and  ardent  patriotism  of  hosts  of  Frenchmen. 

Switzerland  has  for  600  years  been  free  from  monar- 
chy, and  hence,  called  a  republic;  but  her  republicanism 


JOHN  ADAMS.  9 

has  been  very  unlike  ours;  and  her  whole  territory  is 
only  four-fifths  as  large  as  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire 
together. 

Such  facts  as  these  should  lead  us  to  admire  the  more, 
the  wisdom  and 
unselfishness 
and  patriotism 
of  the  founders 
of  the  indepen- 
dence and  con- 
stitutional gov- 
ernments of  the 
states  and  of  the| 
nation. 

Small  com-l 
munities  have 
made  republics 
more  easily,  be- 
cause their  peo- 
ple have  had 
similar  habits 
and  feelings, 
could  easily 
communicate 
with  each  other,  and  could  all  know  something  of  the 
men,  chosen  as  officers  or  rulers.  But  the  constitution  of 
1787  was  so  framed,  that  in  connection  with  the  tele- 
graph, railroads,  steam  navigation,  and  the  modern 
press,  the  modern  means  of  communication  and  informa- 
tion, it  may  gather  under  its  sway,  the  whole  of  North 


Napoleon  Bonaparte. 


jo  JOHN  ADAMS. 

America  in  due  time.  These  founders  worked  with  ap- 
prehension and  even  fear  that  they  were  attempting  an 
experiment  the  issue  of  which  was  doubtful;  but  they 
put  into  it  sincerely  and  hopefully  their  best  wisdom  and 
effort  We  can  rightly  admire  and  honor  them  all, 
though  we  number  among  them  such  opponents  as 
Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  the  Adamses  and  Patrick  Henry. 

And  this  leads  to  another  caution  which  the  young 
student  of  history  may  need  to  bear  in  mind.  Political 
opinions  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  patriotism.  Pa- 
triotism is  the  feeling  of  love  for  one's  country  which 
leads  one  to  give  property,  effort  or  even  life  for  the 
common  welfare  or  the  commonwealth.  But  an  opinion 
is  not  a  feeling.  Two  men  may  love  the  country  equal- 
ly, while  one  thinks  revenue  is  best  raised  by  a  direct 
tax,  the  other  says  a  tariff  is  best.  However  hotly  they 
may  argue  over  it,  each  may  be  equally  willing  to  give 
his  life  and  his  all  for  his  country. 

The  general  who  retreats  may  be  just  as  brave  as  the 
one  who  offers  battle.  Washington  was  no  less  patriotic 
when  he  accompanied  Gen.  Braddock  to  fight  for  Eng- 
land and  King  George  II,  than  he  was  when  he  com- 
manded the  armies  of  the  republic  for  eight  years  against 
George  III. 

In  the  contests  of  the  present  day,  republican  should 
not  call  democrat  an  enemy  of  his  country,  nor  democrat 
accuse  republican  of  lack  of  patriotism,  so  long  as  each 
deems  the  other  honest,  but  mistaken.  The  demagogue, 
the  political  boss  and  the  dishonorable  officeseeker  are 
the  only  enemies  of  the  commonwealth. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  11 

Hence,  in  studying  the  lives  of  the  early  patriots,  we 
can  honor  as  equal  patriots  the  opponents  named  above, 
though  Hamilton  and  John  Adams  feared  lest  the  con- 
stitution had  framed  a  government  too  weak  to  survive, 
Patrick  Henry  and  Samuel  Adams  feared  it  would  be 
too  strong,  and  Jefferson  sometimes  used  expressions 
which  were  anarchic.  Each  ardently  desired  the  welfare 
of  his  country,  while  differing  as  to  the  means  of  secur- 
ing that  result.  Let  us  judge  their  opinions,  but  honor 
their  motives  alike.  History  shows  that  thus  far  their 
fears  have  proved  groundless. 

John  Adams,  the  second  president  of  the  United  States, 
had  the  peculiar  fortune  of  being  for  a  while,  one  of  the 
most  honored  citizens  of  the  country,  intrusted  witn 
most  important  offices  and  appointments,  and  rendering 
services  which  were  recognized  as  of  vital  importance  to 
his  native  land;  and  then  had  the  misfortune  of  retiring 
into  private  life  under  a  load  of  calumny  and  obloquy, 
which  made  his  name  a  byword  of  contempt.  But  with 
the  fall  of  slavery  and  of  the  predominance  of  the  polit- 
ical cliques  and  parties  that  persecuted  him  unjustly,  it 
is  possible  to  raise  him  again  to  his  proper  place  as  one 
of  our  foremost  statesmen. 

In  1636,  Henry  Adams  appears  as  one  of  the  freemen 
and  founders  of  the  town  of  Braintree,  Massachusetts, 
previously  called  Mount  Wollaston,  about  ten  miles  from 
Boston,  to  the  south  and  east.  In  1792,  the  northwest 
part  of  Braintree  was  cut  off  as  Quincy,  a  place  famous 
as  the  birthplace  of  the  two  presidents,  John  Adams  and 
John  Quincy  Adams,  and  of  John  Hancock.  The  emi- 


12  JOHN  ADAMS. 

nent  Quincy  family  was  early  settled  here.  And  from 
that  part  of  old  Braintree  came  the  Quincy  granite  to 
build  Bunker  Hill  monument,  whose  architect  was  a  cit- 
izen of  that  town. 

Of  the  English  family  from  which  Henry  Adams  came, 
little  can  be  said.  The  name  probably  indicates  an  ori- 
gin from  the  Welsh  border  of  England,  where  such 
names  as  Williams,  Peters,  Davids,  John  or  Jones,  Thom- 
as, and  the  like  are  more  common  than  elsewhere  in  Brit- 
ain. Among  those  to  whom  Charles  I  granted  the  char- 
ter of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  there  is  found 
the  name  of  Thomas  Adams,  who  must  have  been  a  man 
of  some  wealth  and  importance.  It  is  guessed  that  Hen- 
ry was  a  younger  brother:  Thomas  did  not  come  to 
America. 

Henry  Adams  neither  brought  nor  won  wealth.  The 
Puritan  farmers  had  a  hard  time  to  maintain  themselves 
on  the  sterile  soil  and  in  the  bleak  climate  of  New  Eng- 
land. His  whole  estate  as  inventoried  at  his  death,  was 
scanty  enough :  a  little  land,  a  three-room  house,  a  barn, 
a  cow  and  calf,  some  pigs,  fodder  for  the  beasts;  and  in 
the  house,  kitchen  utensils,  three  beds,  a  few  old  books, 
and  one  silver  spoon. 

But  this  hard  land  made  strong  men.  The  weak  went 
early  to  their  graves  with  consumption:  the  strong  sur- 
vived and  propagated  their  race. 

The  Kanaka  savage  believed  that  the  strength  and 
courage  of  the  enemy  whom  he  slew  and  ate,  entered  in- 
to him.  The  New  Englander  found  it  so  in  the  strife 
with  Nature.  The  stinginess  of  Nature  compelled  par- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  13 

simony,  abstinence,  labor,  ingenuity.  The  bitter  east 
winds,  and  the  stony  hills,  seemed  to  enter  into  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Yankee,  so  that  the  genuine  son  of  that 
stern  sad  land  carries  its  granite  in  his  blood  with  a  cer- 
tain fierce  force. 

The  rigid  theological  system  of  Calvin,  accepted  with- 
out mitigation  by  the  Puritan,  consorted  well  with  the 
severity  of  Nature, 
and  intensified  the 
character  she  genera- 
ted. 

So  in  Braintree,  || 
(local  pronunciation 
is  Bran-try,)  and  its 
vicinity,  the  descend- 
ants of  Henry  Ad- 
ams clung  to  the  soil 
and  grew  in  num- 
bers, wealth  and  civ- 
ic importance,  neith- 
er poor  nor  rich,  and  with  but  the  commonest  ambitions. 
It  was  enough  to  live  simply,  to  be  upright  with  God, 
and  to  deserve  the  respect  of  the  community. 

Joseph  Adams,  grandson  of  Henry  the  colonial  immi- 
grant, had  a  large  family  of  twelve  children,  one  of 
whom,  John,  was  the  father  of  the  president.  Joseph 
had  a  brother  John,  who  was  the  grandfather  of  Samuel 
Adams  of  Boston,  the  revolutionary  agitator.  Thus, 
Samuel  Adams,  thirteen  years  the  elder  of  the  future 
president,  was  his  second  cousin.  The  genealogical  ta- 


Smucl  Adams. 


I4  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ble  on  the  following  page  will  make  plain  the  family  rela- 
tions. Joseph  gave  the  eldest  of  his  twelve  children  an 
education  at  Harvard  College.  This  was  deemed  an  equiv- 
alent to  a  share  in  the  paternal  goods;  and  at  his  death, 
he  omitted  that  son  in  the  distribution  of  his  property. 
The  president's  father  was  not  the  recipient  of  this  ad- 
vantage, but  remained  a  farmer.  He  married  Susanna 
Boylston,  daughter  of  Peter  Boylston.  He  was  so  pe- 
cuniarly  prosperous,  that  his  property,  as  listed  for  pro- 
bate, was  more  than  sixteen  times  as  much  as  that  of  his 
great  grandfather  Henry. 

The  eldest  child  of  John  and  Susanna,  was  John,  the 
subject  of  our  memoir,  born  Oct.  19,  1/35,  old  style, 
which,  according  to  new  style  and  the  calendar  then 
used  in  Europe,  generally,  and  which  we  now  use,  was 
Oct.  30. 

This  firstborn,  a  Sunday's  child,  the  pious  parents 
would  gladly  have  devoted  to  the  ministry  of  the  Chris- 
tian church.  That  ambition  survived  in  many  a  New 
England  family,  long  after  that  profession  had  lost  the 
preeminence  and  prodigious  influence  of  an  earlier  time. 
For  this  purpose  they  sent  him  to  Harvard,  where  he 
graduated,  or,  as  was  then  said,  was  graduated,  in  1755. 
Many  men  afterward,  eminent  in  church  and  state,  were 
his  classmates.  There  was  William  Browne,  governor 
of  the  Bermudas;  Sir  John  Wentworth,  two  years  youn- 
ger than  Adams,  governor  of  New  Hampshire,  1767-1775, 
and  as  he  was  a  "loyalist"  or  adherent  to  the  British 
side  in  the  Revolution,  an  exile  to  Nova  Scotia,  where 
he  was  Lieutenant-governor,  1792-1808,  dying  in  1820; 


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,6  JOHN  ADAMS. 

David  Sewall,  who  followed  a  family  tendency,  and  was 
long  time  judge  of  the  District  Court  of  Maine;  Moses 
Hemenway,  a  noted  preacher;  Samuel  Locke,  president 
of  Harvard,  fifteen  years  after  his  graduation,  1770  to 
1773;  and  Adams's  intimate  friend,  Charles  Gushing. 
Of  his  rank  in  College,  we  know  that  Adams,  Hemen- 
-way  and  Locke  were  deemed  the  best  scholars.  It  was 
the  custom  then  and  until  1773,  to  rank  pupils  in  the 
catalogue,  according  to  social  rank:  John  Adams,  the  son 
of  a  country  farmer,  was  thus  the  fourteenth  among  twen- 
ty four. 

Of  his  uneventful  life  at  work  on  his  father's  farm,  we 
know  naught.  As  a  boy  of  ten,  he  must  have  been 
stirred  with  the  rest  of  the  community  in  1745  by  the 
capture  of  the  French  fortress  of  Louisburg,  Cape  Breton 
Island,  by  the  forces  of  the  colonists  without  an  English 
soldier  or  officer:  it  had  been  considered  impregnable, 
and  was  a  great  nuisance  to  the  Americans.  New  Eng- 
land alone  and  on  her  own  motion  took  it.  Old  Eng- 
land might  have  learned  from  this  of  what  sort  her  chil- 
dren in  the  West  were;  and  in  fact,  the  very  man  who  as 
chief  engineer  of  the  expedition  laid  and  directed  the 
lines  of  the  besiegers  at  Louisburg,  marked  the  lines  of 
Bunker  Hill. 

In  the  year  of  Adams's  graduation,  he  must  have 
marked  with  apprehension,  the  encroachments  of  the 
French,  and  the  defeat  of  Braddock,  while  admiring  the 
brave  young  Virginian  colonel,  Washington,  then  first 
heard  of  in  New  England.  It  was  eight  years  later  be- 
fore the  French  ceased  to  be  a  danger  to  New  England 


JOHN  ADAMS.  17 

and  the  middle  colonies.  Shortly  after  graduation, 
twenty  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  this 
youth  of  twenty  wrote  thus  to  to  his  friend  Nathan 
Webb:— 

"England  is  now  the  greatest  nation  upon  the  globe. 
A  few  people  came  over  into  this  new  world  for  con- 
science sake.  Perhaps  this  apparently  trivial  incident 
may  transfer  the  great  seat  of  empire  into  America.  It 
looks  likely  to  me;  for  if  we  can  remove  the  turbulent 
Gallicks  [t.  ^.,  drive  away  the  troublesome  French,]  our 
people,  according  to  the  exactest  computations,  will  in 
another  century  become  more  numerous  than  England 
itself.  Should  this  be  the  case,  since  we  have,  I  may 
say,  all  the  naval  stores  of  the  nation  in  our  hands,  it 
will  be  easy  to  obtain  the  mastery  of  the  seas;  and  then 
the  united  force  of  all  Europe  will  not  be  able  to  subdue 
us.  The  only  way  to  keep  us  from  setting  up  for  our- 
selves is  to  disunite  us.  Divide  et  Impera.  Keep  us 
distinct  colonies;  and  then,  some  great  men  in  each  col- 
ony, desiring  the  monarchy  [he  uses  the  word  in  its 
Greek  sense  of  sole  control]  of  the  whole,  they  will  de- 
stroy each  other's  influence,  and  keep  the  country  in 
equilibria" 

This  letter  was  first  published  in  1807,  brought  to 
light  by  the  son  of  Nathan  Webb.  Its  anticipations  and 
their  correctness  are  remarkable.  He  anticipates  the 
greatness  of  America,  to  become  "the  great  seat  of  Em- 
pire." The  extinction  of  French  power  in  America  is 
expected  as  a  matter  of  course,  though  that  year  had 
seen  three  ill-managed  campaigns  of  England  against 


18  JOHN  ADAMS. 

France  in  this  country.  Our  growth  in  population  is 
foreseen:  a  century  from  that  time  the  population  of  the 
United  States  slightly  exceeded  the  total  population  of 
the  British  Isles.  Naval  power  is  foretold:  during  the 
Revolution  and  in  his  administration  as  president,  he 
was  always  urging  the  increase  of  power,  both  of  the  nat- 
ional navy  and  of  onr  mercantile  fleet;  the  war  of  1812, 
the  civil  war  and  our  war  with  Spain  now  current  show 
the  wisdom  of  his  policy.  Independence  is  foreseen:  he 
was  one  of  the  chief  agents  in  winning  it.  The  danger 
of  sectionalism  and  divisions  among  our  people  he  pre- 
sents, as  if  foreseeing  the  "Critical  Period,"  as  Mr. 
Fiske  names  the  years  following  the  Revolution,  and  the 
great  secession.  His  own  future  policy  is  foreshadowed. 
He  had  not  decided  upon  his  profession  when  he  left 
college.  Friends  and  relatives  urged  him  toward  the 
pulpit,  toward  which  he  was  somewhat  inclined.  But 
Puritanism  was  essentially  polemic  or  combative.  The 
struggles  of  protestantism  and  Ls  several  forms  of  sects 
to  secure  their  own  right  to  exist,  had  not  led  them  to 
any  toleration  of  others.  As  Spain  belonged  to  the  pap- 
acy, Scotland  to  presbytery,  and  England  to  episcopacy, 
so  should  New  England  belong  to  independency  of  the 
calvinistic  type.  They  had  crossed  the  ocean  and  suf- 
fered many  hardships  to  make  a  place  for  themselves: 
they  could  ill  bear  the  intrusion  of  other  religions  into 

c> 

their  hard-won  domain.  Besides,  their  earnestness  and 
their  confidence  that  they  alone  had  the  true  gospel  made 
them  less  tolerant.  Indifference  and  doubt  find  tolera- 
tion easy;  but  the  indifferent  or  skeptic  mood  of  mind 


JOHN  ADAMS.  19 

has  no  real  toleration,  and  is  apt  to  be  contemptuous  or 
bitter  toward  earnestness.  Much  that  passes  for  toler- 
ance in  these  days  is  really  indifference. 

In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  toleration 
was  hardly  practicable  anywhere,  so  fierce  was  the  con- 
tention of  sects; 
and  it  advanced 
slowly  in  New 
England  through 
the  eighteenth 
century.  The 
domineering  spirit 
of  the  '-orthodox" 
chu  -ch  kept  John 
Adams  from  the 
pulpit,  as  it  had 
kept  John  Milton 
a  hundred  years 
before.  Neither  of 
these  strong  men 
could  afford  to  give 
up  freedom  of 
thinking  and 

.    .  _  John  Milton. 

speaking.      So 

while  Adams  was  master  of  a  grammar  school  at  Worces/- 
ter  in  his  first  year  after  graduating,  he  determined  to 
be  a  lawyer. 

Sixty  years  later,  he  wrote  to  a  gentleman  who  had 
unearthed  a  letter  of  this  period. 

"I  was  like  a  boy  in  a  country-  fair,  in  a  wilderness,  in 


2o  JOHN  ADAMS. 

a  strange  country,  with  half  a  dozen  roads  before  him, 
groping  in  a  dark  night  to  find  which  he  ought  to  take. 
Had  I  been  obliged  to  tell  your  father  the  whole  truth, 
I  should  have  mentioned  several  other  pursuits.  Farm- 
ing, merchandise,  law,  and  above  all,  war.  Nothing  but 
want  of  interest  and  patronage  prevented  me  from  enlist- 
ing in  the  army.  Could  I  have  obtained  a  troop  of 
horse  or  a  company  of  foot,  I  should  infallibly  have 
been  a  soldier.  It  is  a  problem  in  my  mind  to  this  day, 
whether  I  should  have  been  a  coward  or  a  hero." 

Looking  at  his  actual  career,  we  can  confidently  say 
that  his  brave  soul  would  have  carried  a  cowardly  body 
into  any  danger,  if  duty  bade.  But  was  his  disposition 
to  be  a  soldier  due  to  a  pugnacity  abundantly  shown  in 
later  life?  Or  was  it  because  the  necessities  of  wars  with 
France  had  made  all  New  England  military? 

Mr.  Adams  began  to  keep  a  diary  when  he  was  twenty 
years  old,  and  with  great  gaps  here  and  there,  he  con- 
tinued it  till  1796.  Much  of  it  has  been  published,  fur- 
nishing valuable  hints  for  the  history  of  his  times.  But 
it  has  given  opportunity  for  some  harsh  judgments  about 
his  personal  character.  He  often  accuses  himself  of 
faults,  especially  of  what  he  calls  vanity,  meaning  un- 
due self-esteem.  He  says  it  is  his  besetting  sin. 

But  as  we  read  this  we  should  remember  that  he 
judged  himself  by  the  Puritan  standards.  The  Puritans 
were  very  religious,  and  had  very  rigid  codes  of  morals, 
and  conscientiously  adopted  strict  rules  of  personal  con- 
duct. Their  theology  taught  them  to  abase  themselves 
and  to  examine  their  own  lives  and  thoughts  and  impul- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  21 

ses  with  great  severity  of  judgment.  Every  man  must 
be  ready  to  say  with  St.  Paul  that  he  was  uthe  chief  of 
sinners." 

In  short,  a  Puritan  in  those  and  earlier  times  was  a 
man  with  a  sore  conscience,  which  he  continued  to  punch 
and  irritate,  as  medieval  monks  wore  haircloth  shirts  and 
flogged  themselves  with  knotted  cords.  "Woe  to  them 
that  are  at  ease  in  Zion!"  was  a  favorite  admonition.  In 
their  prayers  they  told  God  that  they  were  vile  repro- 
bates, worthy  of  eternal  damnation.  Really  they  were 
sober,  industrious,  pure-minded,  self-sacrificing,  upright 
men.  It  was  said  of  them  that  they  were  so  upright  as 
to  lean  the  other  way.  Their  worst  fault  was  this  ex- 
treme censoriousness,  applied  to  themselves  and  to  ev- 
erybody else.  The  Puritan  tried  to  rule  all  men  as  he 
thought  he  ought  to  rule  himself.  Such  people,  howev- 
er excellent,  are  often  very  uncomfortable  neighbors. 

There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  self-esteem  was  great- 
er in  Adams  than  in  Jefferson  or  Hamilton,  or  Washing- 
ton. Every  man  must  feel  that  he  and  his  work  are 
worth  something  in  the  world,  or  he  will  be  indeed  a 
cipher. 

Doubtless  John  Adams,  like  many  other  people,  con- 
founded just  self-reliance  with  exuberant  self-esteem,  or 
with  undue  love  of  approbation.  The  most  undesirable 
effect  of  this  tendency  was  to  make  one  impute  wrongly  to 
others  such  faults  '5  he  charges  upon  himself,  and  thus 
to  make  him  suspicious.  No  man  detects  vanity  in  an 
others  quicker  than  one  conscious  of  vanity.  When  bit- 
ter experience  had  taught  Adams  the  lesson  of  distrust, 


22  JOHN  ADAMS. 

he  is.  charged  with  being  too  suspicious.  But  let  the 
reader  consider  the  story  of  his  relations  to  his  cabinet, 
and  he  will  see  that  the  president  was  not  suspicious 
enough .  As  men  of  clear  judgment  grow  old,  they  be- 
come less  trustful,  but  make  wiser  judgments  of  others. 

Mr.  Adams  studied  law  with  Mr.  Putnam  of  Worcester 
while  he  was  a  schoolmaster.  There  was  then  no  such 
introduction  to  legal  science  as  "Blackstone's  Commen- 
taries" (published  1768);  and  the  student  had  to  elaborate 
and  arrange  principles  for  himself  from  "Coke  upon  Lit- 
tleton" and  volumes  written  in  the  bad  Latin  of  earlier 
centuries. 

In  1760  Adams  writes  that  he  read  at  Worcester  ten 
folio  volumes  "besides  octavos  and  lesser  volumes,"  hav- 
ing constant  reference  1^  reports  and  dictionaries.  Evi- 
dently he  studied  Cicero,  Seneca,  Montesquieu,  Boling- 
broke,  for  the  philosophy  of  ethics,  law,  and  government. 

Returning  to  Braintree  in  1758,  he  read  there  in  two 
years  Justinian's  Institutes  (in  Latin\  taking  with  it  and 
writing  an  English  translation,  Van  Muy den's  Tractatio 
Institutionum  Justiniani:  he  lists  eight  other  law  treatises. 
He  then  complains  that  he  has  ':a  very  imperfect  system 
of  law  in  my  head:"  he  will  read  over  and  over  Wood 
and  Coke;  will  study  on  natural  law  and  civil  law;  mas- 
ter Puffendorf  and  Grotius;  and  promised  to  finish  with 
canon  and  feudal  law  -a  sort  of  dessert,  as  it  were,  af- 
ter such  an  enormous  devouring. 

Upon  such  a  basis  of  industry  and  acquirement  did 
this  one  of  the  founders  of  our  republic  build  his  future 
career;  and  thus  did  he  fit  himself  to  represent  the  Uni- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  23 

ted  States  in  three  courts  in  Europe.  It  disgusts  an 
American  to  contrast  with  this  giant  of  preparation  and 
ability,  some  of  the  names  that  are  proposed  for  nomin- 
ation in  national  conventions  in  our  day. 

Jeremiah  Gridley,  the  foremost  lawyer  of  New  Eng- 
land, presented  Mr.  Adams  with  a  complimentary  recom- 
mendation, Nov.  6,  1758,  and  the  court  admitted  him  to 
the  bar.  Gridley  favored  him,  because  he  liked  him. 
Two  points  of  advice  given  by  the  old  lawyer  are  worthy 
of  remembrance:  "First,  pursue  the  study  of  law  rather 
than  the  gain  of  it:  pursue  the  gain  of  it  enough  to  keep 
out  of  the  briars,  but  give  your  main  attention  to  the 
study  of  it:  second,  do  not  marry  early,  for  an  early 
marriage  will  obstruct  your  improvement;  and  in  the 
next  place  it  will  involve  you  in  expense." 

He  soon  had  so  much  business  that  he  says  no  lawyer 
had  more  with  so  little  profit  in  the  next  seventeen 
years,  which  brings  us  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. 
Fees  were  small;  but,  as  Mr.  Morse  says,  the  colonists 
were  great  sticklers  for  their  legal  rights,  and  would  go 
to  law  on  small  provocation.  This  characteristic-  he 
finds  appearing  in  their  oncoming  strife  with  king  and 
parliament. 

The  second  part  of  Gridley's  advice  he  minded  for  six 
years.  Then  he  married  Abigail  Smith,  daughter  of 
Rev.  William  Smith  of  the  neighboring  town  of  Wey- 
mouth.  He  thus  became  allied  to  the  influential  fami- 
lies of  Quincy  and  Norton  and  Shepard:  everybody 
knows  how  large  the  S:nith  family  is.  The  marriage 
did  but  increase  his  business.  The  lady  was  for  fifty-four 


Abigail  Adams,  wife  of  John  Adams. 
(From  the  Painting  by  Gilbert  Stuart.) 


JOHN  ADAMS.  25 

years  one  of  the  best  of  wives,  most  helpful  to  him  by 
her  fine  mind,  her  wisdom,  her  courage  in  trials,  and  her 
love.  All  who  rea4  their  lives  admire  her. 

Mr.  Adams  was  devoting  himself  closely  to  his  pro- 
fession, and  abstaining  from  politics,  though  not  un- 
interested in  what  was  going  on.  His  nature  and  habits 
were  not  likely  to 
win  popularity.  The 
leaders  came  to  see 
his  value  and  drew 
him  among  them. 

His  kinsman,  Sam- 
uel Adams,  was  lead- 
er in  popular  agita- 
tion, and  was  work- 
ing toward  an  end 
that  he  dared  not  yet 
avow,  absolute  inde- 
pendence. John  Ad-  James  Otis, 
ams,  as  we  have 
shown,  foresaw  this,  but  only  as  something  remote. 

The  famous  contest  over  "Writs  of  Assistance"  oc- 
curred in  1761.  Adams,  attending  court  as  a  member 
of  the  bar,  heard  the  powerful  speech  of  James  Otis,  of 
which  we  have  no  account  but  his.  That  shows  how 
the  argument  and  the  vivid  force  of  its  utterance  affec- 
ted him  and  others.  In  reminiscence  of  it  he  said, 
"Then  and  there  the  child  Independence  was  born." 
John  Adams  was  resolved  from  that  moment  But  he 
used  a  similar  expression  about  the  event  of  March  5, 


26  JOHN  ADAMS. 

1774,  the  collision  between  the  soldiers  and  the  populace 
of  Boston.  He  said:  "On  that  night  the  foundation  of 
American  independence  was  laid."  In  fact,  George  III 
had  begun  laying  such  foundation  as  soon  as  he  became 
King. 

The  writer  of  biography  must  presume  the  reader  to 
be  informed  of  the  current  of  events:  we  can  but  men- 
tion them.  On  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  1765,  Mr. 
Adams  led  in  calling  a  town-meeting,  at  which  he  pre- 
sented resolutions  of  instruction  to  the  representatives  of 
Braintree  in  the  Assembly.  They  were  published;  forty 
other  towns  adopted  them,  and  Samuel  Adams  used  them 
in  preparing  Boston's  resolutions.  He  and  most  others 
regretted  the  work  of  the  mobs  that  destroyed  the  houses 
of  Oliver  and  Hutchinson,  for  violence  tangled  the  case. 
Most  of  the  judges  of  the  colony  paid  no  attention  to  the 
act,  and  issued  writs  without  stamps;  but  Hutchinson, 
as  chief  justice  and  probate  judge  of  Suffolk,  would 
not  hold  court. 

Boston  petitioned  the  governor's  council  to  have  the 
courts  opened,  and  selected  as  its  lawyers  to  urge  the  pe- 
titipn  Jeremiah  Gridley,  James  Otis,  and  John  Adams, 
who  was  not  a  Bostonian.  He  had  notice  Dec.  igth, 
and  had  to  plead  the  next  day.  He  spoke  first,  and  took 
the  ground  that  the  Stamp  Act  was  invalid  since  the  col- 
onies had  no  representation.  Gridley  and  Otis  had  pre- 
viously admitted  the  right  of  Parliament  to  legislate  for 
the  colonies. 

In  1766  Townshend's  act  laid  taxes  on  glass,  paper, 
paints  and  tea.  This  was  met  by  the  non-importation 


JOHN  ADAMS. 


27 


agreement 
and  smug- 
gling. In 
1768  Adams 
moved  to 
Boston.  Gov. 
Bernard  of- 
fered him  the 
office  of  advo- 
cate -  general 
in  the  court 
of  admiralty, 
saying  that 
he  asked  no 
compliance 
i  n  political 
opinions.  Ad- 
ams prompt- 
ly refused  it. 

That  year 
troops  came 
t  o  overawe 
the  people; 
and  an  old 
statute  of 
Henry  VIII 

was  brought   up  to   warrant  transportation   of  alleged 
traitors  to  England   for  trial. 

In  1770  Lord  North  became  minister  and   the   King's 
pliant  agent.     On  the  fifth  of  March  occurred  the  collis- 


Statue  of  Joslah  Quincy.  Boston,  Mass. 


28  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ion  of  populace  and  soldiers,  wrongly  called  the  Boston 
Massacre.  Captain  Preston  and  the  soldiers  were  arres- 
ted, while  the  regiments  were  sent  out  of  the  city.  By 
Hutchinson's  advice,  Preston  asked  the  patriot  lawyers, 
John  Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  to  defend  him  and  his 
men.  They  did  it  successfully.  Perhaps  Hutchinson 
thought  they  would  lose  popularity;  but  in  June,  three 
months  before  the  trial,  Boston  chose  Adams  her  repre- 
sentative; he  had  seventy-eight  per  cent  of  the  votes 
cast. 

Judges  had  been  paid  from  the  colonial  treasury. 
Lord  North  undertook  to  control  them  by  having  their 
salaries  paid  by  the  King.  Adams  published  arguments 
against  this,  and  induced  the  Assembly  to  impeach  Peter 
Oliver,  Chief  Justice,  who  accepted  the  King's  money. 
No  jury  would  thenceforth  serve  in  his  court. 

In  1773  occurred  the  "Boston  Tea  Party."  In  all 
these  struggles  John  Adams  was  the  legal  adviser  of  the 
patriots.  Violence  was  not  used  till  the  last  moment. 
The  patriots  tried  to  make  the  captain  of  the  "Dartmouth" 
take  his  tea  away.  The  Governor  would  not  give  him 
a  clearance.  At  the  end  of  twenty  days  the  revenue  ' 
officers  would  take  possession  of  the  vessel  and  land  the 
tea.  A  struggle  with  them  must  not  occur;  hence  on 
the  night  of  the  nineteenth  day,  the  "Mohawks"  com- 
mitted a  private  trespass  in  pouring  the  tea  into  the 
harbor. 

In  1774  came  the  Boston  Port  Bill;  the  Quebec  Act; 
the  annulment  of  the  charter  of  Massachusetts;  the  act 
to  remove  trials  to  England;  the  quartering  of  troops 


JOHN  ADAMS.  29 

upon  the  people;  and  the  appointment  of  Gen.  Gage  as 
Governor.  This  was  as  bad  as  Jaines  II  and  Andros 
nearly  a  century  before. 

The  Assembly  held  a  session  with  locked  doors  to 
prevent  the  interference  of  Gage,  passed  resolutions  in 
accord  with  the  action  of  Virginia  calling  upon  the  col- 
onies to  hold  another  Congress;  and  these  were  appoint- 
ed as  delegates:  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams,  Robert 
Treat  Paine,  James  Bowdoin  and  Thomas  Gushing. 
The  first  three  of  these  signed  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Henceforth  the  lawyer  of  the  Massachusetts 
courts  is  merged  into  the  patriot  statesman. 

In  the  greatness  of  the  crisis  he  felt  lost.  Who  could 
be  "sufficient  unto  these  things?"  John  Adams  looked 
far  beyond  the  present  agitation,  which  was  destructive, 
in  which  his  cousin  as  a  popular  leader  excelled;  he  saw 
that  there  must  be  construction  of  government  as  well 
as  overthrow  of  tyranny. 

Such  men  as  Samuel  Adams,  Thomas  Paine,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  Patrick  Henry  did  grand  service  as  con- 
suming fires  in  the  lumber  of  the  old  system;  but  no  one 
of  them  was  a  practical  builder.  Both  kinds  of  men  are 
always  needed:  the  world  can  spare  neither  sort;  and  in 
that  crisis  the  destroyers  must  take  the  lead.  Nor  was 
John  Adams  lacking  in  that  work,  though  he  put  in 
many  a  stroke  for  the  new  structures.  He  would  build 
as  fast  as  the  ground  was  cleared.  In  this  he  was  one 
with  Washington,  Franklin,  Madison  and  John  Mar- 
shall. 

The  resolution  of  resistance  and  selection  of  delegates 


30  JOHN  ADAMS. 

to  a  congress  of  "committees"  of  all  the  colonies  was 
passed  on  the  seventeenth  of  June,  1774.  just  one  year 
before  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  It  was  proposed 

that  the  delegates 
from  the  several  col- 
onies should  meet  on 
the  first  of  Septem- 
ber next  thereafter, 
at  Philadelphia. 

All  the  colonies  re- 
sponded favorably 
except  Georgia, 
which  sent  no  repre- 
sentatives. Maryland 
was  so  prompt  that 
she  chose  her  dele- 
gates on  the  twenty- 
second  of  June.  Sev- 
en others  chose  dele- 
gates in  July. 

Fifty-six  represen- 
tatives attended:  for- 
ty-four were  present  at  the  opening,  Monday,  September 
fifth,  from  eleven  colonies:  those  from  North  Carolina 
were  a  few  days  late.  This  body  was  called  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  and  sat  in  Carpenter's  Hall.  It  was 
the  first  united  organization  of  the  colonists  to  resist  the 
tyranny  of  King  George  and  his  Parliament. 

It  was  not  the  English  people's   Parliament,  though 
there  were  in  it  great-hearted  and  far-seeing  men  who 


John  Marshall,  American  Jurist  and  Statesman. 
Born  1755.    Died  1835. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  V 

represented  the  true  interests  of  the  nation,  such  as 
Burke,  Dunning,  Barre",  Pitt,  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  and 
Lenox,  Duke  of  Richmond.  But  the  Parliament  was 
then  elected  by  the  influence  of  few  men,  and  did  not 
represent  the  people. 

It  is  worth  while  to  review  here  the  story  of  the  growth 
of  English  liberty  from  which  sprang  American  liberty; 
for  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  demanded  at  first  only 
that  they  be  treated  as  Englishmen,  under  laws  made  by 
a  body  which  was  elected  to  represent  the  people,  in 
some  degree  at  least. 

The  Angles,  Saxons,  Danes  and  Normans  that  made 
the  English  people  always  had  a  great  deal  of  personal 
liberty.  The  kings  were  lenders  in  war,  judges  in  peace, 
but  paid  the  expenses  of  their  courts  and  palaces  from 
the  income  from  the  lands  called  crown  lands.  The 
people  paid  few  taxes  to  the  king,  except  in  emergen- 
cies. 

There  grew  up  the  Feudal  System  under  which  the 
knights  and  nobles  made  serfs  (not  slaves)  of  the  com- 
mon people,  claiming  from  them  much  of  the  products 
of  their  labor.  The  knights  and  nobles  were  obliged  to 
serve  the  king  in  war  at  his  summons;  but  the  king 
could  not  claim  of  them  any  taxes  or  contributions  be- 
yond certain  ones  allowed  by  the  Feudal  System,  called 
reliefs,  aids,  and  fines:  the  word  fines  did  not  have  its 
present  meaning. 

If  the  king  wanted  more  money,  he  must  call  a  meet- 
ing of  his  great  nobles  and  ask  for  it:  he  could  collect 
only  what  they  granted.  In  like  manner,  a  duke  or 


King  John  Sealing  the  Magna  Charta. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  33 

great  noble  must  call  a  meeting  of  the  knights  and  no- 
bles under  him  and  have  it  voted  if  he  wanted  money 
from  them.  Thus  there  grew  up  the  rule  "no  tax  with- 
out a  vote." 

A  willful  king,  if  disposed  to  tyranny,  might  get 
more.  But  in  1215  the  very  bad  King,  John,  was  forced 
by  a  rebellion  of  almost  all  his  nobles  to  sign  a  document 
called  Magna  Charta,  in  which  he  promised  for  himself 
and  his  successors,  that  all  his  subjects  should  be  treated 
justly  and  according  to  law,  and  that  he  would  claim  no 
taxes,  but  such  as  should  be  voted  legally.  Many  other 
limits  were  put  upon  the  King  by  Magna  Charta;  and 
it  is  remarkable  that  the  nobles  claimed  rights  for  all 
freemen,  and  not  for  themselves  only.  The  English  no- 
bility has  always  been  very  different  in  that  respect 
from  the  nobility  of  the  continent 

The  kings  used  to  call  great  councils  of  the  princi- 
pal men  of  the  nation,  knights  and  nobles  only,  sum- 
moning whom  they  pleased.  They  also  made  corpora- 
tions of  the  burghers  of  large  towns  and  cities,  giving 
them  charters  of  privileges  in  return  for  which  the  towns 
and  cities,  called  boroughs,  generally  paid  regular  taxes. 

In  1265  a  Parliament  was  called  to  which  each  county 
in  England  was  to  send  two  elected  representatives. 
Soon  the  boroughs  sent  representatives.  The  kings 
found  it  profitable  to  make  boroughs,  because  they  often 
found  them  more  pliant  than  the  nobles.  But  of  course 
the  nobles  could  have  great  influence  in  determining  the 
votes  of  the  boroughs  of  their  neighborhood:  many  bor- 
oughs would  sell  their  votes,  electing  any  man  who 


34  JOHN  ADAMS. 

would  pay  their  price.  Some  towns  went  down  to  ruin; 
and  the  rich  man  who  owned  the  ground  where  the  bor- 
ough had  been  could  elect  a  member  of  parliament  by 
his  single  vote. 

While  the  power  of  the  kings  grew  less  as  Parliament 
limited  them  more  and  more,  and  several  civil  wars 
strengthened  Parliament,  the  kings  and  their  ministers 
resorted  to  bribery  to  control  Parliament.  Places  with 
high  salaries  for  doing  little  were  given  to  those  who 
voted  to  please  the  king  and  his  party.  Men  were  made 
barons,  viscounts,  earls,  marquises  or  dukes  by  the 
King's  favor. 

But  after  1660,  the  rule  that  had  grown  out  of  the 
Feudal  System  was  strictly  observed:  "No  tax  unless 
voted  by  the  Parliament;"  but  all  the  Feudal  obligations 
were  abolished.  Hence,  came  the  idea  that  "Taxation 
without  representation  is  tyranny." 

The  mother  of  George  III  used  to  say  to  him  while  he 
was  young,  "George,  be  a  King."  He  was  really  a  man 
of  very  ordinary  ability.  But  he  thought  that  to  be  a 
King  he  must  govern  at  his  own  pleasure,  and  not  be 
limited  by  the  advice  of  his  ministers,  who  are  held  ac- 
countable. If  to  please  the  King,  they  do  an  illegal  act, 
they  are  punished;  not  he.  He  had  five  several  prime 
ministers  in  the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign,  whose  quar- 
rels and  jealousies  he  fostered.  Pitt  (Chatham),  was  for 
a  while  the  actual  manager  of  the  government,  though 
not  called  prime  minister;  the  King  could  not  bear  him, 
nor  any  other  really  strong  man. 

At  last,  1770,  he  made    Frederick    North    his   prime 


JOHN  ADAMS.  35 

minister,  finding  him  to  be  a  man  who  would  let  the 
King  have  his  own  way.  North  was  of  easy,  indolent 
temper,  unwilling  to  pay  attention  to  public  opinion,  and 
with  no  attachment  to  any  political  principle  but  keep- 
ing things  as  they  were. 

George  III  now  took  control  of  public  affairs  as  com- 
pletely as  had  the  tyrant  kings  of  earlier  days,  doing  ev- 
erything under  cloak  of  the  ministry,  which  certainly 
covered  a  multitude  of  sins  against  the  welfare  of  Eng- 
land. Mr.  J.  R.  Green  ("History  of  the  English  People," 
Bk.  ix,  ch  ii.}  tells  us. — 

"Not  only  did  he  direct  the  minister  in  all  important 
matters  of  foreign  and  domestic  policy,  but  he  instructed 
him  as  to  the  management  of  debates  in  Parliament, 
suggested  what  motions  should  be  made  or  opposed,  and 
how  new  measures  should  be  carried.  He  reserved  for  him- 
self all  the  patronage:  he  arranged  the  whole  cast  of  ad- 
ministration; settled  the  relative  places  and  pretensions 
of  ministers  of  state,  law  officers,  and  members  of  the 
household;  nominated  and  promoted  the  English  and 
Scotch  judges;  appointed  and  translated  bishops  and 
deans,  and  dispensed  other  preferments  in  the  Church. 
He  disposed  of  military  governments,  regiments  and 
commissions;  and  himself  ordered  the  marching  of  troops. 
He  gave  and  refused  titles,  honors  and  pensions.  All 
this  immense  patronage  was  persistently  used  for  the 
creation  and  maintenance  in  both  houses  of  Parliament  of 
a  majority  directed  by  the  King  himself.  The  shame  of 
the  darkest  hour  of  English  history  lies  wholly  at  his 
door. ' ' 


36  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Lord  North  did  not  approve  of  the  King's  acts.  He 
knew  that  the  King  had  had  a  touch  of  insanity  in  1765, 
the  Stamp-Act  year.  He  excused  himself  afterward  by 
saying  in  effect  that  he  feared  that  he  would  bring  on 
madness  again  if  he  worried  the  King  by  opposition.  So 
a  crazy  tyrant  and  a  pliant  tool  were  important  instru- 
ments in  creating  American  Independence. 

King  George  saw  that  he  would  have  trouble  in  rais- 
ing taxes  in  England,  even  with  his  purchased  majority 
in  Parliament.  He  saw  that  the  colonies  were  not  di- 
rectly under  English  law7,  and  undertook  to  increase  their 
burdens;  but  when  he  tried  to  enforce  the  old  navigation 
acts  and  revenue  laws  which  had  been  evaded,  and  to 
levy  new  taxes,  the  Commercial  States  resisted. 

When  his  Parliament  altered  the  charter  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  shut  up  the  port  of  Boston,  all  the  colonies 
saw  that  their  charters  might  be  revoked  and  their  ports 
closed:  hence,  they  made  common  cause  with  Massachu- 
setts. The  Continental  Congress  united  their  feeling 
and  their  action. 

In  anticipation  of  his  going  to  the  Congress,  Mr.  Ad- 
ams was  studying  on  the  questions  of  the  day,  though  he 
went  on  his  usual  circuits  as  a  lawyer.  He  wrote  in  his 
Diary. — 

"There  is  a  new  and  grand  scene  open  before  me;  a 
Congress.  This  will  be  an  assembly  of  the  wisest  men 
upon  the  continent  who  are  Americans  in  principle,  that 
is,  against  the  taxation  of  Americans  by  authority  of 
Parliament.  I  feel  myself  unequal  to  this  business.  A 
more  extensive  knowledge  of  the  realm,  the  colonies, and 


JOHN  ADAMS.  37 

of  commerce,  as  well  as  of  law  and  policy,  is  necessary 
than  I  am  master  of.  What  can  be  done?  Will  it  be 
expedient  to  propose  an  annual  Congress  of  Committees? 
to  petition?  Will  it  do  to  petition  at  all?  to  the  King?  to 
the  Lords?  to  the  Commons?  What  will  such  consulta- 
tions avail?  Deliberations  alone  will  not  do.  We  must 
petition  or  recommend  to  the  Assemblies  to  petition,  or 

"  The  dread  alternative  of  civil  war  he  would  not 

write,  even  in  his  diary.  . 

To  his  wife  he  wrote  his  wish  for  leisure  for  prepara- 
tion: "I  might  be  polishing  up  my  old  reading  in  law 
and  history,  that  I  might  appear  with  less  indecency  be- 
fore a  variety  of  gentlemen  whose  education,  travels,  ex- 
perience, family,  fortune,  au-l  everything  will  give  them 
a  vast  superiority  to  me,  and  I  fear,  even  to  some  of  my 
companions." 

The  self-conceit  which  some  charge  upon  Mr.  Adams 
is  not  evident  here.  His  solid  foundation  of  legal,  his- 
torical and  philosophical  knowledge  made  him  the  equal 
of  any,except  in  the  polish  given  by  travel  and  extensive 
intercourse  with  men,  and  in  the  fortune  of  wealth. 

His  friend,  Joseph  Hawley,  gave  him  a  caution  which 
shows  that  the  jokes  of  to-day  about  Boston  were  already 
current  then.  He  warns  him  not  to  fall  into  the  error 
imputed  "to  the  Massachusetts  gentlemen,  and  especially 
of  the  town  of  Boston,"  of  assuming  big  and  haughty 
airs,  and  affecting  to  dictate  and  take  the  lead  in  conti- 
nental affairs.  This  jealousy  of  New  England  was  deep- 
ly rooted. 

All  the  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  except  Bowdoin 


38  JOHN  ADAMS. 

started  together  Aug.  10,  going  through  Connecticut  to 
New  York.  They  were  everywhere  received  with  joy, 
and  as  public  guests.  But  they  found  that  independence 
and  the  war  to  win  it,  however  evident  to  them,  must 
not  be  even  whispered. 

John  said  to  Samuel  Adams  that  they  were  going  to 
Philadelphia  to  enter  into  unavailing  agreements  for 
non-importation,  non-consumption, non-exportation:  force 
would  be  necessary. 

In  New  York,  McDougal  warned  them  of  episcopal 
and  aristocratic  prejudices  against  "the  leveling  spirit  of 
New  England;"  and  Philip  Livingston  betrayed  such 
disposition.  At  Princeton,  Dr.  Witherspoon,  president 
of  the  college, was  working  on  their  line;  but  they  were 
told  to  be  wary  as  they  should  approach  Philadelphia. 
The  committee  that  met  them  to  escort  them  into  the 
city  let  them  know  how  they  were  feared  as  violent  en- 
thusiasts. Consequently  they  roared  so  gently  that 
Joseph  Reed  said  they  seemed  mere  milksops.  They  let 
Rutledge  and  Harrison  outbrave  them.  "We  have  a  del- 
icate course  to  steer  between  too  much  activity  and  too 
much  insensibility,"  wrote  John  Adams. 

Things  seemed  to  go  slowly;  but  by  the  lyth  of  Sep- 
tember he  wrote,  "This  day  convinced  me  that  America 
will  support  Massachusetts  or  perish  with  her." 

Nevertheless  the  delegation  got  others,  now  of  one  col- 
ony and  now  of  another,  to  put  forward  their  thoughts 
and  plans.  Most  wanted  Massachusetts  to  steer  careful- 
ly between  obedience  and  rebellion,  like  the  famous 
sportsman  who  shot  into  the  bushes  "to  hit  it  if  it  was 


JOHN  ADAMS. 


39 


a  deer,  and  miss  it  if  it  was  a  calf."  The  majority  ex- 
pected ultimate  reconciliation  with  England.  Virginia 
and  Massachusetts  worked  together  generally,  the  dele- 
gates from  Virginia  being  Washington,  Henry,  Peyton 
Randolph  (elected  to  preside), 
Richard  Bland,  Edmund  Pendle- 
ton,  Benjamin  Harrison  and  Rich- 
ard Henry  Lee.  Mr.  Adams  was 
on  a  committee  to  prepare  a  pe- 
tition to  the  King  with  Lee  and 
Henry  Johnson  of  Maryland, 
and  John  Rutledge  of  South  Car- 
olina. 

The  middle  colonies  and  their 
views  had  little  representation 
in  that  body,  and  the  report 
was  too  sharp:  so  Dickinson  of 
Pennsylvania  was  added  to  rewrite  or  soften  it. 

A  more  important  committee  was  a  large  one  to  pre- 
pare a  declaration  of  rights.  Both  Adamses  were  in  this. 
Their  report  affirmed  that  a  right  of  taxation  of  colonists 
belonged  to  them  only;  but  that  Parliament  might  make 
regulations  for  the  external  commerce  of  all  parts  of  the 
empire,  but  not  for  revenue. 

This  first  Continental  Congress  was  controlled  main- 
ly by  the  ideas  of  John  Dickinson  of  Pennsylvania,  as  it 
was  necessary  to  yield  to  the  middle  states,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  and  to  their  conciliation 
policy.  But  it  approved  the  Suffolk  Resolution  that  no 
obedience  was  due  to  the  recent  acts  of  Parliament;  it 


Peyton  Randolph, 
President  First  Continental 

Congress. 
Born  1721.    Died  1775. 


40  JOHN  ADAMS. 

adopted  Jay's  "Address  to  the  People  of  Great  Britain;" 
it  tried  to  bring  in  all  the  English  colonies,  and  sent  to 
England  a  petition  to  the  King,  written  by  Dickinson. 
After  thirty-one  days  of  actual  session,  but  fifty-two  of 


Suffolk  Resolves  House,  Milton.  Mass.    Built  prior  to  1050.    Dr.  Warren  and 
the  Committee  of  Safety  passed  the  famous  Suffolk  Resolutions  here. 

assembly,  it  adjourned.  Mr.  Adams  was  on  the  whole 
encouraged. 

A  provincial  congress  was  taking  the  place  of  the 
Charter  Assembly;  and  Braintree  sent  Adams  as  her  rep- 
resentative. He  was  sent  to  the  Second  Continental 
Congress,  which  met  May  10,  1775.  Meanwhile  had  oc- 
curred the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Concord.  John  Han- 
cock had  taken  Bowdoin's  place  in  the  delegation. 

Mr.  Adams  found  a  great  change  in   New  York,  the 


JOHN  ADAMS.  41 

most  commercial  of  the  middle  states:  actual  war  had 
stirred  the  people  to  range  themselves  with  Massachu- 
setts and  Virginia  in  resistance.  He  left  home  with 
some  anxiety  for  his  family:  his  wife  wrote  him  of  a  lo- 
cal alarm  of  an  invasion  of  their  neighborhood  by  a  de- 
tachment of  soldiers  who  came,  however,  only  to  get 
some  hay. 

The  middle  state  of  Pennsylvania  was  under  the  influ- 
ence of  John  Dickinson,  still  hanging  back:  and  many 
delegates  were  hopeful  of  reconciliation,  though  war  was 
going  on.  Dickinson  succeeded  in  carrying  his  point, 
one  more  "dutiful  and  humble  petition,"  called  by  some 
the  Olive-Branch  Petition.  But  by  the  same  vote  there 
was  joined  with  the  order  for  the  petition  other  meas- 
ures of  warlike  character.  New  York  was  to  be  put  in- 
to a  state  of  defense.  Military  spirit  was  rising.  It  was 
a  significant  fact,  that  Washington  came  to  the  Congress 
everyday  in  his  uniform.  He  said  little:  the  dress  had 
unmistakable  meaning. 

On  Dickinson's  day -of  partial  success  came  a  letter 
from  Massachusetts  asking  advice  about  "the  taking  up 
and  exercising  the  powers  of  civil  government,"  since  the 
local  government  was  disorganized.  The  Congress  was 
forced  to  act:  June  Qth,  it  advised  Massachusetts  to  or- 
ganize a  government  This  was  a  great  step  toward  in- 
dependence in  fact,  though  many  would  not  so  consid- 
er it 

Adams  now  pushed  another  suggestion  of  the  provin- 
cial congress  of  his  State,  the  adoption  of  the  army  in 
front  of  Boston,  in  which  were  men  from  other  colonies. 


42  JOHN  ADAMS. 

June  1 4th,  Congress  voted  to  raise  20,000  men,  Mr.  Ad- 
ams promising  to  raise  ten  thousand  from  Massachusetts. 

Of  course  a  commander-in-chief  must  be  appointed  for 
this  army,  to  act  with  the  authority  of  the  United  Col- 
onies, as  they  still  called  themselves.  As  matters  stood, 
Massachusetts  was  carrying  on  war  alone,  with  Gen. 
Artemas  Ward,  an  esteemed  officer  of  the  French  and 
Indian  war,  as  her  generalissimo. 

Mr.  Adams  found  difficulties  in  local  jealousies  and 
personal  ambitions,  as  well  as  in  the  backwardness  of 
the  moderates  and  conservatives.  He  was  never  lacking 
in  courage;  he  was,  indeed,  liable  to  be  charged  with  be- 
ing overbold,  so  that  he  chafed  under  the  enforced  de- 
lays. Private  conferences  with  other  delegates  reached 
no  result.  He  told  Samuel  Adams  one  morning  that  he 
was  going  to  make  a  bold  stroke  to  end  the  suspense:  he 
would  propose  the  adoption  of  the  army  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Col.  Washington  as  commander  of  it.  Mr.  Sam- 
uel Adams  did  not  assent  or  dissent. 

When  John  Adams  got  the  floor,  he  moved  the  adopt- 
ion of  the  army  and  went  on  to  speak  of  its  command- 
er, eulogizing  a  certain  gentleman  from  Virginia  "who 
could  unite  the  cordial  exertions  of  all  the  colonies  bet- 
ter than  any  other  person."  Though  no  name  was 
spoken  all  knew  he  meant  Washington,  who  was  so  start- 
led that  he  rose  and  went  out. 

Some  said  it  was  a  doubtful  measure  to  put  a  southern- 
er over  an  army  of  New  England  troops  now  doing  ad- 
mirably under  their  own  officers.  Pendleton  of  Virgin- 
ia especially  urged  this,  followed  by  Sherman  of  Connec- 


JOHN  ADAMS. 


43 


ticut;  and  Gushing  of  Massachusetts  fell  into  line  with 
them.  Hancock,  the  presiding  officer,  was  ambitious 
for  the  place.  Other  aspirants  might  be  jealous  and  be- 
come hostile  to  Adams;  but  he  never  feared  enemies 
when  sure  he  was  right.  The  vote  was  not  hurried;  Ad- 
ams left  the  formal 
nomination  for  some 
one  else.  On  the  1 5th 
of  June,  Thomas 
Johnson  of  Maryland 
nominated  Washing- 
ton, and  he  was  unan- 
imously elected,  and 
left  Philadelphia  on 
the  2 1  st. 

Mr.  Adams  had 
now  gained  two  im- 
portant points:  he 
had  had  the  Congress  to  advise  Massachusetts  to  estab- 
lish an  insurgent  or  rebel  government;  and  next  to  adopt 
and  organize  an  army  that  was  at  war  with  King  George. 
If  this  belligerency  was  not  independence,  what  was  it? 
Nor  had  he  consulted  Massachusetts  or  New  England 
about  making  a  Virginian  Commander  over  her  troops. 
Considering  the  local  jealousies,  this  was  a  brave  and 
bold  deed.  Certainly  three  New  Englanders  were  at 
first  against  him  in  the  Congress  itself,  and  two  from  his 
own  state.  But  he  trusted  the  intelligence,  liberality 
and  courtesy  of  his  people  whom  he  knew  well.  His 
grandson  in  his  "Life  of  John  Adams"  says: 


Jobn  Hancock. 


44 


JOHN  ADAMS. 

"In  the  life  of  Mr.  Adams,  more  than  in  that  of  most 
men,  occur  instances  of  this  calm  but  decided  assumption 
of  a  fearful  responsibility  in  critical  moments.  But  what 

is  yet  more  re- 
markable is  that 
they  were  at- 
tended with  a 
uniformly  favor- 
able result." 

The  Ameri- 
can people  saw 
in  his  conduct 
in  this  Congress, 
in  the  war,  and 
in  his  acts  as 
ambassador  or 
envoy,  such  ev- 
idences of  pure 
patriotism,  just 
courage,  and 
high  sagacity, 
that  they  twice 
put  him  next  to 
Wash  i  ngt  o  n 
and  once  made 
him  head  of  the 
government.  When  he  was  defeated,  it  was  not  from 
loss  of  popular  confidence  so  much  as  by  dissensions 
within  his  own  party. 

The  result  of  his  moves  at  this  time  "set  the  seal  of 


Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  and  Death  of  Warren.    Bronze 
Door  on  the  Capitol,  Washington.  D.  C. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  45 

wisdom,"  says  Mr.  Morse,  in  his  "Life  of  John  Adams," 
"upon  his  fearless  assumption  of  one  of  the  greatest  po- 
litical risks  recorded  in  the  world's  history."  And  Mr. 
Adams  said  that  the  appointment  of  Washington  would 
have  a  great  effect  in  securing  the  union  of  the  colonies; 
and  further,  that  he  had  got  them  all  as  deep  into  the 
rebellion  as  Massachusetts  herself.  While  he  was  doing 
this,  red  Bunker  Hill  showed  that  Yankee  farmers  could 
face  and  defeat  England's  veterans. 

Soon  after,  Mr.  Adams  wrote  confidential  letters  to  his 
wife  and  to  Gen.  James  Warren,  which  were  taken  from 
the  carrier  by  the  British  and  published  by  them,  to 
create  suspicion  and  ill-feeling.  His  private  opinions 
were  too  strong  for  public  use;  they  made  lasting  ene- 
mies. To  his  wife  he  said  in  a  postscript: 

"I  wish  I  had  given  you  a  complete  history,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  of  the  behavior  of  my  compatriots. 
No  mortal  tale  can  equal  it.  I  will  tell  you  in  future, 
but  you  shall  keep  it  secret.  The  fidgets,  the  whims, 
the  caprice,  the  vanity,  the  superstition,  the  irritability 

of  some  of  us  is  enough  to ";  language  failed  him  at 

that  point. 

So  much  for  one  barrel  of  his  gun:  it  seemed  aimed 
at  the  whole  body  of  Congress;  every  man  might  take 
his  share  of  the  shot  as  he  pleased,  or  generously  give  it 
all  to  his  neighbors.  The  other  barrel  was  aimed  more 
precisely  at  individuals,  but  included  the  seekers  for  con- 
ciliation. Gen.  Warren  was  president  of  the  provincial 
congress.  - 

"I  am  determined  to  write  freely  to  you  this  time.     A 


46  JOHN  ADAMS. 

certain  great  fortune  and  piddling  genius  [this  hit  John 
Dickinson,  leader  of  the  party  of  delay,]  whose  fame  has 
been  trumpeted  so  loudly,  has  given  a  silly  cast  to  our 
whole  proceedings.  We  are  between  hawk  and  buzzard. 
We  ought  to  have  had  in  our  hands,  a  month  ago,  the 
whole  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  of  the  whole 
continent,  and  have  completely  modeled  a  constitution; 
to  have  raised  a  naval  power,  and  opened  all  our  ports 
wide;  to  have  arrested  every  friend  of  [the  British]  gov- 
ernment on  the  continent,  and  held  them  as  hostages 
for  the  poor  victims  in  Boston;  and  then  opened  the 
door  as  wide  as  possible  for  peace  and  reconciliation. 
After  this,  they  might  have  petitioned,  negotiated,  ad- 
dressed, etc.,  if  they  would.  Is  all  this  extravagant  ?  Is 

it  wild  ?  Is  it  not  the  soundest  policy  ? You 

observe  in  your  letter  the  oddity  of  a  great  man  [Gen. 
Lee].  He  is  a  queer  creature;  but  you  must  love  his 
dogs  if  you  love  him,  and  forgive  a  thousand  whims  for 
the  sake  of  the  soldier  and  the  scholar." 

The  reader  will  not  wonder  at  the  personal  enmities 
these  letters  caused.  Dickinson  ceased  to  recognize  him, 
and  was  his  enemy  as  long  as  he  lived  (1808).  Others 
of  those  that  had  "the  fidgets,  the  whims,"  shunned 
him  and  were  cold;  even  friends  showed  disapprobation. 
John  Hancock  drew  away  from  the  Adamses  and  toward 
the  conservatives.  The  moderates  thought  Adams  had  be- 
trayed the  plans  of  radicals  to  hurry  on  independence. 
The  English  regarded  the  letters  as  evidence  of  long- 
planned  rebellion.  The  worst  effect  was  the  suspicion 
which  immediately  attached  to  all  his  proposals,  until 


JOHN  ADAMS.  47 

independence  became  inevitable.  But  Adams  was  so 
shrewd  and  so  strong  that  he.  was  indispensable  upon 
important  committees. 

Meanwhile  Dickinson's  "Olive  Branch"  could  not 
gain  even  an  official  reception  in  England,  since  it  came 
from  a  rebel  body,  and,  as  C.  F.  Adams  suggests,  would 
look  to  George  III  much  more  like  a  highwayman's 
pistol. 

New  Hampshire  asked  advice,  October  i8th,  about 
forming  some  government  for  order  and  justice.  Adams 
joined  in  the  debate,  urging  the  need  of  some  general 
advice  to  all  the  colonies.  He  argued  that  the  people  in 
their  towns  should  elect  delegates  to  a  convention  which 
should  form  a  constitution,  distributing  powers  to  three 
branches,  governors,  councils  and  representatives,  with 
independent  judiciary;  and  that  this  constitution  should 
be  referred  to  the  people  for  adoption  and  confirmation; 
and  that  officers  should  be  elected  thereunder. 

He  was  one  of  the  committee  to  whom  the  matter  was 
referred,  whose  report  advised  a  popular  government, 
Nov.  3d.  The  next  day  a  similar  resolution  was  passed 
for  South  Carolina,  Adams  trying  in  both  cases  to  bring 
in  use  of  the  word  state  for  colony,  and  America  for  the 
colonies.  He  was  opposed  to  a  legislature  of  a  single 
house  and  an  executive  and  judiciary  made  of  commit- 
tees, which  was  Samuel  Adams's  ideal. 

Adams  had  gone  home  during  the  recess  in  August, 
but  had  little  rest,  as  he  had  been  put  on  the  executive 
council  of  Massachusetts. 

It  took  him  just  a  fortnight  to  reach  Philadelphia, 


48  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Sept.  1 3th.  Delegates  from  Georgia  came  in.  The 
moderates  had  control,  but  had  to  move  forward,  adopt 
a  plan  of  confederation,  establish  a  post  office  system 
with  Franklin  as  postmaster,  create  a  system  of  dealing 
with  Indians,  appoint  treasurers,  direct  military  affairs, 
set  up  an  army  hospital,  all  of  these  acts  implying  inde- 
pendence and  rebellion.  Massachusetts  men  were  left 
out  of  committees.  Dangerous  sickness  invaded  Adams's 
family,  an  epidemic  attacking  Braintree  and  vicinity.  His 
brother  died  in  the  army.  His  wife  was  exhausted  with 
anxiety  and  watching.  But  he  felt  that  his  position  was 
that  of  an  officer  in  an  army  in  front  of  the  foe:  he  must 
not  go  home. 

Mr.  Adams's  policy  suddenly  came  uppermost.  Rhode 
Island  on  Oct.  3d  asked  Congress  to  create  a  fleet.  The 
proposition  was  ridiculed,  especially  by  southern  dele- 
gates. But  in  a  few  days  news  was  brought  that  two 
vessels  were  on  the  way  from  London  to  Canada  with 
arms  and  powder. 

A  committee  of  three  New  Englanders  was  appointed, 
including  Adams,  to  report  on  the  emergency.  They 
advised  that  Massachusetts  be  asked  to  put  two  of  her 
armed  vessels  under  Washington's  command,  and  that 
he  dispatch  them  to  intercept  those  from  London  and 
any  other  transports  carrying  military  stores;  and  that 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  be  asked  to  help.  A  re- 
port to  this  effect  was  adopted  Oct.  I3th,  in  spite  of 
much  eloquence. 

By  Oct.  3oth,  another  committee  on  naval  affairs  wab 
created,  Mr.  Adams  being  one,  and  a  fleet  of  four  ves- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  49 

sels  was  ordered.  Nov.  ijth,  a  corps  of  marines  was  or- 
dered. Nov.  25th,  the  beginning  of  a  naval  code  was 
reported  by  Mr.  Adams  and  adopted.  Dec.  i3th,  the 
building  of  thirteen  frigates  was  ordered;  and  Dec.  22d, 
Esek  Hopkins  of  Rhode  Island  was  made  commander  of 
a  fleet  of  five  vessels.  So,  largely  through  the  push  and 
energy  of  John  Adams,  a  navy  was  begun. 

One  important  event  helped  him :  about  the  first  day 
of  November,  a  ship  had  brought  the  news  of  the  fail- 
ure of  Dickinson's  last  "Olive- Branch"  petition. 
Thenceforth  the  moderates  were  rebels  as  much  as  the 
Adamses,  the  Lees,  Washington,  Henry  and  Hancock. 
They  must  carry  on  the  war  or  surrender  without  terms. 
This  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs  very  much. 

For  John  Dickinson  we  may  find  some  palliation,  if 
not  excuse.  He  loved  his  country,  but  acted  like  a  cow- 
ard. The  proprietary  government  of  Pennsylvania  had 
somewhat  protected  the  people  from  collision  with  roy- 
al authority. 

Pennsylvania  had  no  charter  to  lose,  no  rights  depen- 
dent upon  a  royal  grant  and  promise  to  its  inhabitants 
under  seal.  Then,  too,  it  was  originally  a  Quaker  colo- 
ny; and  no  man  could  grow  up  in  it  without  being  af- 
fected by  its  peace-loving  doctrines  and  ways.  But 
worst  of  all  were  the  influences  of  his  family. 

While  Adams  was  supported  in  his  course  by  his  rela- 
tives and  his  brave  wife,  Dickinson's  family  was  a  drag 
upon  him.  Mr.  Adams  says:  "That  gentleman's  moth- 
er and  wife  were  continually  distressing  him  with  their 
remonstrances.  His  mother  said  to  him,  'Johnny,  you 


So  JOHN  ADAMS. 

will  be  hanged;  your  estate  will  be  forfeited  and  confis- 
cated; you  will  leave  your  excellent  wife  a  widow,  and 
your  children  orphans,  beggars  and  infamous.'  From 
my  soul  I  pitied  Mr.  Dickinson.  I  made  his  case  my 
own.  If  my  mother  and  my  wife  had  expressed  such 
sentiments  to  me,  I  was  certain  that  if  they  did  not  un- 
man me  and  make  me  an  apostate,  they  would  make  me 
the  most  miserable  man  alive."  (Works,  Vol.  II,  p. 
408.}  On  a  previous  page  he  had  written,  "Mr.  Dickin- 
son is  very  modest,  delicate  and  timid." 

The  influence  of  the  Quakers  and  of  the  Quaker  state 
in  which  they  had  predominance  politically,  was  thrown 
then  against  the  revolution,  because  it  was  leading  to 
war;  and  because  Massachusetts,  the  colony  in  which 
they  had  suffered  most  for  their  religion,  was  leading  in 
it.  A  leading  man  among  them,  Israel  Pemberton,  in  a 
conference  with  Adams  and  others,  objected  to  a  union 
of  the  colonies  because  of  laws  on  religion  in  Massachu- 
setts and  other  parts  of  New  England. 

Nor  should  we  forget,  in  trying  to  account  for  the  in- 
difference and  backwardness  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  that  there  was  a  larger 
share  of  un-English  elements  in  their  population  than 
elsewhere.  The  first  settlers  of  all  these  except  Penn- 
sylvania were  Dutch  and  Swedes,  foreigners  to  English  , 
law  and  ideas. 

The  revolutionary  party  were  demanding  their  rights 
as  Englishmen,  referring  back  to  Magna  Charta,  the 
Petition  of  Right,  and  the  Bill  of  Rights,  as  well  as  to 
charters  granted  by  English  kings.  These  were  not 


JOHN  ADAMS.  51 

household  words  to  a  generation  whose  grandfathers  or 
great-grandfathers  were  conquered  by  England,  or  who 
came  like  the  numerous  Pennsylvania  Germans  from 
Germany  itself.  Many  did  join  the  Revolution  earnest- 
ly, as  did  the  French  infusion  of  Huguenots  in  South 
Carolina;  but  the  masses  were  different  from  New  Eng- 
landers  and  Virginians. 

Adams  now  writes:  "Our  counsels  have  been  hitherto 
too  fluctuating;  one  day,  measures  for  cam-ing  on  the 
war  were  adopted;  the  next,  nothing  must  be  done  that 
would  wriden  'the  unhappy  breach  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  colonies.'  As  these  different  ideas  have  pre- 
vailed, our  conduct  has  been  directed  accordingly 

Thank  God,  the  happy  day  which  I  have  long  wished 
for  is  at  length  arrived:  the  southern  colonies  no  longer 
entertain  jealousies  of  the  northern;  they  no  longer  look 
back  to  Great  Britain;  they  are  convinced  that  they 
have  been  pursuing  a  phantom,  and  that  their  only  safe- 
ty is  a  vigorous  determined  defense.  One  of  the  gentle- 
men who  had  been  most  sanguine  for  pacific  measures 
and  very  jealous  of  the  New  England  colonies,  address- 
ing me  in  the  style  of  Brother  Rebel,  told  me  he  was 
now  ready  to  join  us  heartily.  'We  have  got,'  says  lie, 
*a  sufficient  answer  to  our  petition.  I  want  nothing 
more,  but  am  ready  to  declare  ourselves  independent, 
send  ambassadors,'  etc. ,  and  much  more Our  res- 
olutions will  henceforth  be  spirited,  clear  and  decisive." 

Truly  the  ignorance  and  self-conceit  of  King  George 
and  his  ministers  did  more  for  independence  than  the 
eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry  and  the  arguments  of  Ad- 


52  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ams.     They  could  not  move  Pennsylvania;  he  did.    But 
Adams  was  not  trusted  by  all;    when  he  went  home  in 
December,  Lynch  of  South  Carolina  wrote  to  Washing- 
ton,   "Whether 
his   intents    be 
wicked   or  not, 
I  doubt  much. 
He    should    be 
watched" 

Probably  be- 
fore the  news 
of  the  failure  of 
theOliveBranch 
in  September  or 
October,  Mr. 
Adams  endeav- 
ored to  have  an 
embassy  sent  to 
France,  with 
powers  to  repre- 
sent the  com- 
bined colonies. 

Mr.  Chase  of  Maryland  made  the  motion,  as  they  had 
agreed;  and  Adams  seconded  it,  and  spoke  on  the  mo- 
tion and  proposed  substitutes,  keeping  his  temper  well 
under,  and  winning  even  from  his  steadfast  opponents, 
Dickinson  and  Duane,  credit  for  greatest  knowledge  of 
the  subject  and  for  eloquence.  His  lawyer-like  mode  of 
reasoning  rarely  rose  to  eloquence;  but  sometimes  his 
deep  earnestness  brought  into  his  speech  his  ready  stores 


Samuel  Chase. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  53 

of  learning  and  a  fiery  rhetoric  that  was  not  common. 
Indeed  he  was  more  likely  to  offend  by  his  impolitic 
way  of  blurting  out  his  real  opinions  too  bluntly  to 
please,  with  severe  criticisms  upon  others.  In  this  dis- 
cussion he  gave  his  views  of  a  proper  policy  for  Amer- 
ica: she  should  make  no  alliances,  make  commercial 
treaties  only,  and  avoid  connection  with  European  poli- 
tics and  wars.  The  proposition  failed  then;  but  seeds  of 
thought  and  of  later  action  were  sown. 

In  December  Adams  took  leave  of  absence  and  went 
home.  As  member  of  the  provincial  council  he  was  at 
once  very  busy,  and  prepared  a  proclamation  to  the  peo- 
ple of  his  own  state  which  has  many  of  the  ideas  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  may  give  us  a  notion 
of  what  that  would  have  been  had  he  written  it. 

The  council  appointed  him  Chief  Justice  of  Massachu- 
setts. He  accepted  the  appointment,  which  it  would 
have  pleased  him  to  fill:  but  he  never  entered  upon  its 
duties,  because  they  also  re-appointed  him  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress  for  the  year  1776,  and  gave  him 
Elbridge  Gerry  as  colleague  in  place  of  dishing,  resigned. 
They  left  home  Jan.  24th,  1776;  Gerry  presented  his 
credentials  Feb.  9th,  and  the  instructions  given  by  Mas- 
sachusetts, which  were: — 

"Resolved,  that  they  [the  five  delegates],  or  any  one 
or  more  of  them,  are  hereby  fully  empowered  with  the 
delegates  from  the  other  American  colonies  to  concert, 
direct  and  order  such  further  measures  as  shall  to  them 
appear  best  calculated  for  the  establishment  of  right  and 
liberty  to  the  American  colonies  upon  a  basis  permanent 


34  J3HN  ADAMS. 

and  secure  against  the  power  and  art  of  the  British  Ad- 
ministration, and  guarded  against  any  future  encroach- 
ments of  their  enemies;  with  power  to  adjourn  to  such 
times  and  places  as  shall  appear  most  conducive  to  the 
public  safety  and  advantage. " 

Mr.  Adams  returned  to  find  the  Congress  in  a  period 
of  discouragement:  "There  is  a  deep  anxiety,  a  kind  of 
thoughtful  melancholy,  and  in  some  a  lowness  of  spirits 
approaching  to  despondency,  prevailing  through  the 
southern  colonies  at  present." 

Why  not?  They  had  hoped  and  hoped  for  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  King:  now  they  saw  before  them  the  con- 
tinuance of  a  war  with  the  greatest  power  in  the  world. 
But  Adams  had  learned  that  public  opinion  is  apt  to 
move  in  waves  of  discouragement  and  exultant  expecta- 
tion. 

He  prophesied,  "In  this,  or  a  similar  condition,  we 
shall  remain,  I  think,  until  late  in  the  spring,  when  some 
critical  event  will  take  place,  perhaps  sooner.  But  the 
Arbiter  of  events,  the  Sovereign  of  the  world,  only  knows 
which  way  the  torrent  will  be  turned.  Judging  by  ex- 
perience, by  probabilities  and  by  all  appearances,  I  con- 
clude it  will  roll  on  to  dominion  and  glory,  though  the 
circumstances  and  consequences  may  be  bloody.  In  such 
great  changes  and  commotions,  individuals  are  but  atoms. 
It  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  consider  what  the  conse- 
quences will  be  to  us.  What  will  be  the  effects  upon 
present  and  future  millions,  and  millions  of  millions,  is 
a  question  very  interesting  to  benevolence,  natural  and 
Christian.  God  grant  they  may,  and  I  firmly  believe 


and 
Ad- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  55 

they  will  be  happy."  Events  went  on  toward  indepen- 
dence. The  British  were  beaten  at  Charleston  and  evac- 
uated Boston.  Paine  wrote  "Common  Sense,"  a  pam- 
phlet of  great  influence,  10  much  in  the  line  of  Adams's 
talk  that  some  thought  it  his. 

Congress   authorized   privateering,    March    23d, 
opened  American  ports  to  all  nations,    April  6th. 
ams  was  sarcastic  upon  those 
who   would  not  see  the  na- 
ture of  these  acts   and  said 
we  had  had  half  a  war,  now 
advanced    to    three-quarters 
of  a  war. 

"This  is  not  independen- 
cy, you  know.  Nothing  like 
it.  If  a  post  or  two  more 
should  bring  you  unlimited 
trade  of  all  nations  and  a  po- 
lite invitation  to  all  nations 
to  trade  with  you,  take  care 
that  you  do  not  call  it  or 

think  it  independency.  No  such  matter.  Independency 
is  a  hobgoblin  of  such  frightful  mien  that  it  would  throw 
a  delicate  person  into  fits  to  look  it  in  the  face." 

Among  the  difficulties  of  the  situation  were  the  rather 
aristocratic  colonial  governments  in  the  middle  and 
southern  colonies,  some  of  which  were  still  proprietary. 
Movements  were  made  here  and  there  for  more  demo- 
cratic forms;  there  was  little  reason  for  change  if  all 
were  to  yield  to  the  mother  country  by  submission. 


Henry  Lee,  Governor  of  Virginia. 

Known  as  "Light  Horse  Harry." 

Bora  1756.    Died  1818. 


56  JOHN  ADAMS. 

In  Virginia  the  Lees,  Patrick  Henry,  George  Wythe 
and  other  advocates  of  Independence  determined  to  pop- 
ularize the  local  government.  No  other  in  America  had 
studied  the  science  of  government  and  the  various  forms 
for  reaching  political  ends  so  much  and  so  thoroughly  as 
John  Adams  had  done:  and  the  practical  tendency  of  his 
mind  made  his  advice  valuable.  Jefferson  and  Samuel 
Adams  were  theoretical,  and  full  of  that  false  republican 
fear  of  reposing  real  governing  power  any  where,  lest  it 
should  be  abused:  a  jealous  fear  which  leads,  if  it  works 
to  its  natural  results,  to  an  anarchy  that  invites  despot- 
ism. 

It  has  been  the  good  fortune  of  America  to  be  neither 
Hamiltonian  nor  Jeffersonian.  When  Jefferson  said  that 
the  tree  of  liberty  needs  frequently  to  be  watered  with 
blood,  and  that  rebellion  is  a  good  thing  and  necessary 
in  the  political  world,  he  showed  that  he  lacked  the 
constructive  power  to  conceive  a  government  which 
should  be  at  once  firm  enough  for  civil  order  and 
elastic  and  changable  enough  for  liberty. 

Hamilton's  schemes  missed  the  same  good  qualities  in 
an  opposite  way.  Practical  people  have  found  ways  be- 
tween the  two;  and  John  Adams,  misunderstood  and 
called  an  aristocrat,  was  of  this  practical  sort.  Both  Jef- 
ferson and  Adams  were  aristocrats  to  this  degree,  that 
they  believed  the  wisest  and  best  should  be  chosen  to 
lead,  to  plan,  to  judge,  to  execute. 

Richard  Henry  Lee  talked  often  with  Adams  on  the 
principles  and  details  of  government,  and  asked  him  to 
give  him  a  definite  plan  for  use.  Adams  gave  him  a 


JOHN  ADAMS.  57 

short  letter  containing  the  main  features  of  such  a  sys- 
tem as  he  approved.  Lee  showed  the  letter:  copies  were 
taken  and  circulated.  Others  applied  to  Mr.  Adams; 
whereupon  he  wrote  a  pamphlet,  "Thoughts  on  Govern- 
ment applicable  to  the  Present  State  of  the  American 
Colonies.  In  a  letter  from  a  Gentleman  to  his  Friend." 
This,  having  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Wythe,  is  in  "The 
Works  of  John  Adams."  The  circulation  of  it  in  Vir- 
ginia elicited  a  reply  from  the  aristocratic  party.  Both 
were  before  the  convention  which  adopted  the  constitu- 
tion of  June,  1776.  The  aristocratic  party  failed. 

North  Carolina  asked  his  advice,  which  was  given  in 
like  manner.  Her  constitution  of  1776  remained  un- 
changed till  1836.  His  influence  appeared  in  the  New 
York  constitution.  His  plans  would  have  made  all  the 
states  independent  of  each  other,  to  be  united  in  a  con- 
federation limited  to  a  few  objects:  he  had  not  studied 
upon  a  plan  of  union  very  much.  The  influence  of 
these  examples  ran  through  all  the  states  that  formed 
new  constitutions. 

Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  New  Jersey  and  New  York 
had  especially  instructed  their  representatives  to  oppose 
all  propositions  for  independence.  Even  New  Hamp- 
shire was  an  obstacle.  A  new  plan  was  devised. 

Samuel  Chase  went  home  to  Maryland  and  organized 
a  series  of  local  meetings,  a  fire  in  the  rear  upon  the 
conservatives,  which  brought  that  State  over.  Caesar 
Rodney  did  the  same  in  Delaware.  Jonathan  Dickinson 
Sergeant  resigned  and  returned  to  New  Jersey  where 
the  Assembly  was  in  session:  he  secured  the  election  of 


58  JOHN  ADAMS. 

new  delegates  who  would  arrive  July  ist,  and  would,  as 
he  said,  "vote  plump." 

As  early  as  April  1 2th  North  Carolina  had  authorized 
her  delegates  to  vote  for  independence  and  foreign  rela- 
tions. The  Virginia  Convention,  at  work  upon  her  new 
constitution,  on  May  i5th,  instructed  her  delegates  to 
propose  independence.  But  still  Pennsylvania  was  a 
perfect  Gibraltar  of  opposition.  It  would  not  be  good 
politics  to  win  a  bare  majority  or  even  a  majority  of 
eight  to  five  with  such  a  great  opposition  in  the  heart  of 
the  land.  Pennsylvania  must  be  the  keystone  of  the 
arch  of  union.  Public  opinion  there  was  in  favor  of  in- 
dependence: but  the  proprietary  government  of  the 
Penn  family  sent  the  delegation  in  which  Dickinson, 
Robert  Morris,  Willing,  Humphrey  and  Morton  outvoted 
Franklin  and  Wilson:  Wilson  had  changed  from  nega- 
tive to  affirmative  vote. 

A  movement  in  another  direction  outflanked  the  Penn 
government.  June  yth,  Friday,  Richard  Henry  Lee 
presented  resolutions  to  declare  independence.  John 
Adams,  as  arranged,  seconded  them.  The  debate  of 
that  day,  Saturday  and  Monday,  showed  that  there  were 
votes  of  four  New  England  States,  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  and  one  other  Southern  State  in  the  affirma- 
tive. That  would  not  do.  The  question  was  adjourned 
to  July  ist.  The  next  day,  Jefferson,  John  Adams, 
Franklin,  Sherman  and  R.  R.  Livingston  were  appoint- 
ed a  committee  on  the  resolution.  On  the  1 2th  Samuel 
Adams  was  made  one  of  a  committee  on  Confederation, 
and  John  Adams  one  of  a  committee  on  treaties  to  be  pro- 


JOHN  ADAMS. 


59 


posed  with  foreign  powers,  where  he  was  securely  bal- 
lasted with  Dickinson,  Morris  and  Harrison  of  Virginia: 
and.  at  the  same  time  a  Board  of  War  and  Ordnance  was 
made  of  John  Ad- 
ams, Sherman, 
Harrison,  Wilson 
and  Edward  Rut- 
ledge. 

Important  was 
a  previous  com- 
mittee, May  25th, 
to  confer  with 
Washington  on 
military  affairs  and 
plans,  on  which 
was  John  Adams. 
From  their  action 
grew  the  "commit- 
tee on  spies, ' '  John 
Adams,  Jefferson, 
Rutledge,  Wilson 
and  Livingston. 
Their  resolutions,  adopted  June  i7th,  declared  every 
person  in  any  colony,  whether  resident  or  transient,  to 
be  subject  to  its  laws:  then  the  second  resolution  as- 
sumed independence  and  sovereignty  most  fully: 

"Resolved,  That  all  persons,  members  of  or  owing  al- 
legiance to  any  of  the  United  Colonies,  as  before  des- 
cribed, who  shall  levy  war  against  any  of  the  said  col- 
onies within  the  same,  or  be  adherent  to  the  King  of 


Robert  R.  Livingston. 
Born  1741.      Died  1813. 


<5o  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Great  Britain  or  other  enemies  of  the  said  colonies  or 
any  of  them,  within  the  same,  giving  to  him  or  them  aid 
and  comfort,  are  guilty  of  Treason  against  such  colony." 

The  next  resolution  advised  each  colony  to  punish 
such  treason,  which  might  be  mere  loyalty  to  King 
George.  Surely  France  was  no  more  independent  than 
the  power  that  defined  and  denounced  loyalty  as  treason. 

Mr.  Adams  was  getting  worn  down  with  committee 
work,  debates  and  planning. 

The  movement  that  destroyed  the  proprietary  power 
in  Pennsylvania  began  with  Adams  on  the  sixth  of  May. 
The  resolution  as  finally  adopted,  May  loth,  stood  thus: 

"Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  respective 
assemblies  and  conventions  of  the  United  Colonies, 
where  no  government  sufficient  to  the  exigencies  of  their 
affairs  hath  been  hitherto  established,  to  adopt  such  gov- 
ernment as  shall,  in  the  opinion  of  the  representatives 
of  the  people,  best  conduce  to  the  happiness  and  safety 
of  their  constituents  in  particular  and  America  in  gen- 
eral." 

Adams,  Lee  and  Rutledge  were  made  a  committee  to 
prepare  a  preamble  to  this.  The  preamble,  adopted 
May  1 5th,  declared: 

"It  appears  utterly  unreconcilable  to  reason  and  good 
conscience  for  the  people  of  these  colonies  now  to  take 
the  oaths  and  affirmations  necessary  for  the  support  of 
any  government  under  the  crown  of  Great  Britain;  and 
it  is  necessary  that  the  exercise  of  every  kind  of  author- 
ity under  the  said  crown  should  be  totally  suppressed; 
and  all  the  powers  of  government  [should  be]  exerted  un- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  61 

der  the  authority  of  the  people  of  the  colonies"  etc.,  etc. 

The  proprietary  government  of  Pennsylvania  was  cer- 
tainly not  "exerted  under  the  authority  of  the  people;" 
and  when  the  preamble  and  resolution  appeared  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  i6th,  the  whigs  of  Philadelphia  began 
to  consult  what  should  be  done  in  consequence  of  the 
dissolution  of  their  government.  The  pressure  of  public 
opinion  and  the  movement  for  a  convention  allowed  the 
committee  of  conference  to  express  a  strong  opinion 
against  the  assembly's  hindering  resolutions  of  instruc- 
tion; and  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania  was  substantially 
gained. 

Mr.  Adams  wrote  respecting  the  preamble  and  resolu- 
tion, "Yesterday  the  Gordian  knot  was  cut"  He  re- 
gretted that  it  had  not  been  done  a  year  sooner.  He 
was  probably  wrong  in  that.  He  was  ready;  but  the 
people  and  the  political  leaders  needed  education  which 
the  year  gave  them.  The  long  debate  attracted  atten- 
tion, stirred  the  consciences  and  raised  the  aspirations  of 
the  people,  and  made  mankind  ready  for  the  verdict 
that  justice  and  reason  pronounced  on  the  great  conten- 
tion. The  saints  may  cry,  "How  long,  O  Lord!"  but 
God  does  not  hurry. 

Adams,  after  hearing  a  sermon  on  the  1 7th  that  com- 
pared George  III  to  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Exodus,  wrote  to 
his  wife  that  in  considering  the  events  just  passed  and 
his  little  share  in  the  great  things,  and  in  looking  at  the 
probable  future,  he  felt  an  indescribable  awe. 

The  vote  was  still  to  be  taken,  though  the  result  was 
foreseen.  It  was  agreed  that  it  should  appear  unani- 


62  JOHN  ADAMS. 

mous.  Dickinson  and  Morris  were  ready  to  absent  them- 
selves, to  let  the  vote  of  their  State  appear  affirmative. 
But  the  delegates  from  New  Jersey,  new  men,  wished 
to  hear  the  grounds  of  the  important  action  rehearsed. 

Lee's  resolution  was  called  up  on  the  appointed  day. 
There  is  no  record  of  a  line  of  the  debate.  It  is  known 
that  two  men  spoke.  Dickinson,  loving  his  country 
without  reserve,  constitutionally  cautious,  even  timid, 
unwilling  to  burden  himself  with  so  great  responsibility, 
yet  hating  the  tyranny  of  king  and  parliament  as  bitter- 
ly as  the  Adamses  or  the  Lees,  in  a  final  speech  cleared 
himself  of  accountability  for  evil  results  which  must 
come  in  the  winning  of  the  good  that  was  desired. 

The  debating  talent  was  on  the  negative  side.  Dick- 
inson, Wilson  his  colleague,  who  voted  however  with 
Franklin  at  last,  R.  R.  Livingston  of  New  York,  who 
had  ceased  to  oppose,  and  Edward  Rutledge  of  South 
Carolina,  could  finely  set  forth  that  side.  Perhaps  no 
one  of  them  spoke.  On  the  other  side,  Dr.  Witherspoon 
presented  his  arguments  clearly,  but  heavily.  Lee  had 
been  called  home.  Wythe  and  others  could  speak  sensi- 
bly, but  not  with  force  of  manner.  Jefferson,  mighty 
with  the  pen,  was  no  speaker. 

It  was  the  great  occasion  for  John  Adams.  He  is 
rarely  enrolled  among  great  orators.  His  writings  rare- 
ly suggest  eloquence.  But  eloquence  is  often  matter  of 
occasion.  The  effect  produced  upon  the  hearers  is  the 
supreme  test. 

"Chatham,  Patrick  Henry,  Mirabeau  and  John  Adams 
will  be  handed  down  as  great  orators  mainly  by  the  con- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  63 

curring  testimony  of  those  who  witnessed  the  effects 
they  produced,"  says  C.  F.  Adams. 

Adams  was  elated  by  the  consciousness  of  victory 
within  his  grasp,  filled  with  the  facts  and  reasons  of  his 
cause,  mighty  in  the  resources  of  his  classical,  philosoph- 
ical and  legal  education  and  reading,  and  fired  with  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  grand  cause. 

Dickinson's  speech  must  have  provoked  him  by  its 
repetition  of  old  oft-answered 
assumptions  and  reasons,  by  ^^ 

its  lugubrious  vaticinations> 
and  by  its  timid  and  hope- 
less lamentations.  Jefferson 
aftei  ward  spoke  of  "the  deep 
conceptions  and  nervous 

* 

style,  which  gave  Adams  a 
powrr  of  thought  and  ex- 

...  .       .        Home  of  Patrick  Henry  in  Virginia. 

presnon    which   moved   the 

merr.bers  from  their  seats;"  and  he  styles  him  the 
"Colossus  of  Independence."  Richard  Stockton  varied 
the  figure:  he  was  "the  Atlas  of  Independence."  Other 
Virpnians,  accustomed  to  the  florid  and  impulsive  ora- 
tory of  the  South,  filled  "every  mouth  in  the  Ancient 
Dominion  with  praises  due  to  the  comprehensiveness  of 
his  views,  the  force  of  his  arguments,  and  the  boldness 
of  I  is  patriotism." 

J4.  is  strange  that  he  impressed  others,  but  not  himself. 
He.  wrote  to  Chase  that  evening  speaking  of  the  debate 
as  an  idle  waste  of  time:  nothing  said  that  had  not  been 
s*.d  six  months  before.  Like  a  genuine  Ynnkee,  he 


64  JOHN  ADAMS. 

looked  only  at  the  intellectual  and  practical  side,  and 
thought  naught  of  the  tongue  of  fire  which  sat  upon 
him  and  loosed  his  speech  while  others  wondered. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  American  orators  wrote  fifty 
years  later  such  speech  as  he  thought  Adams  would 
have  made.  At  the  close  of  this  biography  the  reader  will 
find  Webster's  version  of  it,  probably  less  vehement 
than  the  original. 

The  day  after  the  debate,  July  2d,  the  formal  vote  was 
taken  on  Lee's  resolution:  it  is  brief,  but  enough:  it 
broke  the  chain. 

"Resolved,  That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of 
right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States;  that  they 
are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown; 
and  that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the 
State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dis- 
solved. ' ' 

The  more  formal  document  which  we  know  as  the 
Declaration  was  already  reported  to  the  Congress,  Friday, 
June  28th.  The  preparation  had  been  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee, Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Franklin,  Sherman  and 
R.  R.  Livingston.  The  writing  was  left  by  the  rest  to 
Adams  or  Jefferson:  in  a  little  contest  of  courtesy  each 
referred  it  to  the  other.  Jefferson  wrote  it;  Adams  and 
Franklin  suggested  slight  amendments,  so  slight  that 
Adams  did  not  remember  that  he  had  offered  any. 

It  was  debated  after  Lee's  resolution  passed,  Adams 
defending  it  against  criticism  and  alteration,  Jefferson 
sitting  in  silence.  It  was  amended,  adopted  and  an- 
nounced Thursday,  July  fourth.  The  signing  of  the  en- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  65 

grossed  copy  took  place  later,  several  signing  it  who 
were  not  even  delegates  when  it  was  adopted. 

Adams  wrote  to  his  wife,  July  3d,  "Yesterday  the 
greatest  question  was  decided  which  ever  was  debated  in 
America;  and  a  greater,  perhaps,  never  was  nor  will  be 
decided  among  men.  A  resolution  was  passed  without 
one  dissenting  colony,  that  these  United  Colonies  are, 
and  of  right  ought  to  be  free  and  independent  states;  and 
and  as  such  they  have,  and  of  right  ought  to  have  full 
power  to  make  war,  conclude  peace,  establish  commerce 
and  to  do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  other  States 
may  rightfully  do.  [The  reader  will  see  that  he  quotes 
partly  and  by  memory  from  the  later  document.]  You 
will  see  in  a  few  days  a  declaration  setting  forth  the 
causes  which  have  impelled  us  to  this  mighty  revolution, 
and  the  reasons  which  will  justify  it  in  the  sight  cf  God 
and  man.  A  plan  of  confederation  will  be  taken  up  in 
a  few  days. 

"When  I  look  back  to  the  year  1761  and  recollect  the 
argument  concerning  Writs  of  Assistance  in  the  superior 
court,  which  I  have  hitherto  considered  as  the  com- 
mencement of  the  controversy  between  Great  Britain  and 
America,  and  run  through  the  whole  period  from  that 
time  to  this,  and  recollect  the  series  of  political  events, 
the  chain  of  causes  and  effects,  I  am  surprised  at  the 
suddenness  as  well  as  greatness  of  this  revolution.  Brit- 
ain has  been  filled  with  folly,  and  America  with  wisdom. 
At  least,  this  is  my  judgment  Time  must  determine. 
It  is  the  will  of  Heaven  that  the  two  countries  should 
be  sundered  forever.  It  may  be  the  will  of  Heaven  that 


66  JOHN  ADAMS. 

America  shall  suffer  calamities  still  more  wasting,  and 

distresses  yet  more  dreadful But  I  must  submit 

all  my  hopes  and  fears  to  an  overruling  Providence,  in 
which,  unfashionable  as  the  faith  may  be,  I  firmly  be- 
lieve. 

"Had  a  declaration  of  independency  been  made  seven 
months  ago,  it  would  have  been  attended  with  many 
great  and  glorious  effects.  We  might  before  this  hour 
have  formed  alliances  with  foreign  states.  We  should 
have  mastered  Quebec  and  been  in  possession  of  Can- 
ada   But  on  the  other  hand,  the  delay  of 

this  declaration  to  this  time  has  many  great  advantages 
attending  it.  The  hopes  of  reconciliation  which  were 
fondly  entertained  by  multitudes  of  honest  and  well-mean- 
ing, though  weak  and  mistaken  people,  have  been  grad- 
ually, and  at  last  totally  extinguished. 

"Time  has  been  given  for  the  whole  people  maturely 
to  consider  the  great  question  of  independence,  and  to 
ripen  their  judgments,  dissipate  their  fears,  and  allure 
their  hopes,  by  discussing  it  in  newspapers  and  pamph- 
lets, by  debating  it  in  assemblies,  conventions,  commit- 
tees of  safety  and  inspection,  in  town 'and  county  meet- 
ings, as  well  as  in  private  conversations,  so  that  the 
whole  people  in  every  colony  of  the  thirteen,  have  now 
adopted  it  as  their  own  act.  This  will  cement  the  Un- 
ion, and  avoid  those  heats  and  perhaps  convulsions  which 
might  have  been  occasioned  by  such  a  declaration  six 
months  ago. 

"But  the  day  is  past.  The  second  day  of  July,  1776, 
will  be  the  most  memorable  epocha  in  the  history  of 


JOHN  ADAMS.  67 

of  America.  I  am  apt  to  believe  that  it  will  be  celebra- 
ted by  succeeding  generations  as  the  great  anniversary 
festival.  It  ought  to  be  commemorated  as  the  day  of 
deliverance,  by  solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  God  Almighty. 

"It  ought  to  be  solemnized  with  pomp  and  parade, with 
shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bells,  bonfires  and  illumina- 
tions, from  one  end  of  this  continent  to  the  other,  from 
this  time  forward,  forevennore. 

"You  will  think  me  transported  with  enthusiasm;  but 
I  am  not.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  toil  and  blood  and 
treasure  that  it  will  cost  us  to  maintain  this  declaration 
and  support  and  defend  these  States.  Yet  through  all 
the  gloom  I  can  see  the  rays  of  ravishing  light  and 
glory.  I  can  see  that  the  end  is  more  than  worth  all  the 
means,  and  that  posterity  will  triumph  in  that  day's 
transaction,  even  although  we  should  rue  it,  which  I 
trust  in  God  we  shall  not." 

But  the  Fourth  of  July  superseded  the  second ;  and  the 
jubilant  patriot  could  not  anticipate  the  present  desecra- 
tion of  the  anniversary,  which  makes  it  in  every  city  a 
day  of  apprehension,  of  fires  and  accidents,  of  senseless 
noise,  and  the  racket  and  sputter  of  the  fire-cracker  of 
the  half-civilized  "Heathen  Chinee!" 

Adams  knew  well  that  independence  was  declared, 
but  was  yet  to  be  won.  He  was  neither  fanatic  nor  en- 
thusiast. His  stubborn  force  was  paired  with  know- 
ledge of  means  to  be  used  and  of  ends  to  be  gained.  He 
was  more  earnest  and  pressing  than  any  other  man,  and 
had  reached  his  aim  by  policy  as  well  as  by  statesman- 
ship. Seeing  when  he  entered  Congress  that  that  body 


68  JOHN  ADAMS. 

could  not  be  hastened,  he  worked  generally  through  oth- 
ers, favoring  even  the  remotest  step  in  the  path  to  inde- 
pendence. 

Many  measures  adopted  months  before  logically  im- 
plied independence;  but  he  dared  not  even  say  that 
aloud.  Mr.  Morse  in  his  "Life  of  John  Adams"  often 
accuses  Adams  of  a  lack  of  restraint  of  his  tongue.  One 
who  said  so  much  must  often  have  said  too  much;  but 
he  must  have  undergone  agonies  of  self-restraint.  His 
severe  remarks  about  others  were  generally  in  his  pri- 
vate letters.  Had  he  blurted  out  all  he  thought,  he 
might  have  incurred  the  sarcastic  reproach  which  Low- 
ell flung  upon  "Philip  Vandal;"  that  is  Wendell  Phil- 
lips; "he  loves  his  fellow  men  so  well  that  he  has  not  a 
word  softer  than  a  brickbat  for  a  single  mother's  son  of 
them." 

At  this  time  Adams  wrote  to  his  friend  and  helper, 
Samuel  Chase  of  Maryland:  — 

"If  you  imagine  that  I  expect  this  Declaration  will 
ward  off  calamities  from  this  country,  you  are  much  mis- 
taken. A  bloody  conflict  we  are  destined  to  endure. 

This  has  been  my  opinion  from  the  beginning 

Every  political  event  since  the  igth  of  April,  1775,  has 
confirmed  me  in  this  opinion.  If  you  imagine  that  I 
flatter  myself  with  happiness  and  halcyon  days  after  a 
separation  from  Great  Britain,  you  are  mistaken  again. 
I  do  not  expect  that  our  new  government  will  be  so  qui- 
et as  I  wish,  nor  that  happy  harmony,  confidence  and 
affection  [will  exist]  between  the  colonies,  that  every 
good  American  ought  to  study  and  pray  for,  for  a  long 


JOHN  ADAMS.  69 

time.  But  freedom  is  a  counterbalance  for  poverty,  dis- 
cord, and  war,  and  more.  It  is  your  hard  lot  and  mine 
to  be  called  into  life  at  such  a  time.  Yet  even  these 
times  have  their  pleasures." 

Mr.  Adams's  supreme  effort  in  the  second  Continental 
Congress  was  over,  successfully  completed.  He  had 
spoken  of  it  as  the  very  end  and  purpose  of  his  existence; 
and  said  he  would  be  willing,  that  done,  to  say  with  old 
Simeon,  "Nunc  dtmittis"  But  he  was  too  valuable  a 
member  to  be  let  go  easily;  and  while  there  was  real 
hard  work  to  be  done,  he  was  willing  to  remain,  health 
and  strength  permitting. 

The  sessions  of  the  second  Continental  Congress  be- 
gun May  10,  1776,  and  continued  till  it  adjourned  Dec. 
12,  1777,  a  period  of  582  days.  Mr.  Adams  remained  in 
it  till  a  month  before  its  adjournment.  He  proposed 
that  Massachusetts  should  enlarge  her  delegation,  so  that 
the  Congress  should  have  sufficient  attendance  while  the 
delegates  could  be  relieved  by  periods  of  vacation.  His 
work  may  be  inferred  from  his  being  on  ninety  commit- 
tees by  the  record,  and  on  others  not  recorded.  He  was 
chairman  of  at  least  twenty-five. 

On  one  of  these  he  served  very  unwillingly.  Gen. 
Sullivan,  taken  prisoner  on  Long  Island,  came  on  parole 
with  a  verbal  message  from  Admiral  Lord  Richard 
Howe,  who  wished  to  see  some  leading  members  of  the 
Congress.  Adams  wanted  to  pay  no  attention  to  the 
message,  being  sure  it  could  do  no  good  to  see  him;  but 
Franklin,  John  Adams  and  Edward  Rtitledge  were  sent 
as  a  committee.  They  met  Lord  Howe  on  Staten  Island 


70  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Sept.  nth.  He  received  them  very  courteously,  but 
had  no  terms  to  offer  except  pardon  after  absolute  sub- 
mission. They  reported,  Sept.  lyth,  the  impossible 
terms.  They  had  ceased  to  be  rebels,  and  were  citizens 
of  the  free  United  States.  Like  most  of  England's 
moves,  the  concessions  came  too  late  and  were  too  small. 

As  the  business  so  far  as  it  was  national  was  conduct- 
ed entirely  by  a  congress  of  delegates,  there  was  no  ex- 
ecutive or  judiciary  except  the  Congress  itself  and  the 
committees  it  created.  There  was  no  War  Department, 
no  Secretary  of  War;  there  was  only  a  committee  called 
sometimes  the  Board  of  War.  We  read  of  Washington's 
troubles  as  commander-in-chief :  the  Board  had  all  his 
troubles  except  the  tactical  and  strategical  ones.  There 
were  constant  and  annoying  jealousies  between  North, 
Middle  and  South.  These  were  individual  jealousies 
about  precedence,  appointments,  advancements.  All 
these  things  came  into  the  Board  of  War.  Great  mis- 
takes were  made,  as  in  the  treatment  of  Schuyler,  Ar- 
nold, Gates  and  Lee. 

Nor  could  this  body  understand  and  appreciate  the 
great  military  as  well  as  personal  qualities  of  Washing- 
ton. It  has  taken  nearly  a  century  to  show  that  his 
name  must  be  ranked,  not  indeed  with  the  most  brilliant, 
as  Alexander,  Caesar,  Hannibal,  Napoleon;  but  in  the 
next  class  among  the  very  best.  He  is  called  the  Fabi- 
us  of  America;  and  Americans  do  not  like  Fabianism. 
They  cry,  "On  to  Richmond!"  "On  to  Havana  !"  How 
unfortunate  it  is  that  in  our  country  our  greatest  strate- 
gists, naval  and  military,  are  only  editors  and  corres- 


Gen.  George  Washington. 
(From  Portrait  of  C.  W.  Peale.) 


?2  JOHN  ADAMS. 

pendents  of  newspapers  !  One  of  this  sort  lately  wrote 
that  Washington  never  won  a  battle,  meaning,  doubtless, 
a  pitched  battle.  How  great  must  be  the  genius  of  a 
general  that  can  win  a  war  of  eight  years  without  win- 
ning a  pitched  battle  !  But  Washington  was  not  a  mere 
Fabius,  winning  only  by  delay.  W7ith  his  small,  ill- 
armed,  ill-provided  army,  he  could  strike  quick  and 
heavy  blows,  so  that  all  the  English  generals  feared 
him.  But  in  his  own  day  few  saw  how  great  he  was. 

Mr.  Morse,  in  his  "Life  of  Adams,"  thinks  an  exces- 
sive vanity  on  the  part  of  Adams  kept  him  from  appre- 
ciating Washington.  He  calls  his  relative  estimate  of 
Washington  "his  unconquerable  blunder,  originating  in 
1776-77,  before  he  left  Congress,  and  acquiring  much 
greater  proportions  afterward."  But  how  great  had 
Washington  shown  himself  to  be  by  December,  1777? 
To  most  people,  his  failures  at  Long  Island,  Germantown 
and  Brandywine,  and  the  loss  of  Philadelphia  would 
have  seemed  to  balance  the  success  at  Boston,  and  the 
brilliant  moves  at  Trenton  and  Princeton.  Surely  Ad- 
ams may  be  excused  and  not  charged  with  an  "uncon- 
querable blunder." 

Mr-  Adams  indignantly  repelled  the  charge  that  he 
had  been  hostile  to  Washington,  a  charge  which  he 
ascribed  to  "that  insolent  blasphemer  of  things  sacred, 
and  transcendent  libeler  of  all  that  is  good,  Tom  Paine." 
He  says  thai,  after  his  appointment  as  ambassador,  Gen. 
Knox  called  upon  him  to  learn  how  he  felt  toward  Wash- 
ington. "I  answered that  I  thought  him 

the  most  important  character  of  that  time  among  us,  for 


JOHN  ADAMS.  73 

he  was  the  center  of  our  union I  should  do  my 

utmost  to  support  his  character  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places."  The  Gates  faction  was  no  doubt  glad  to  claim 
Adams;  and  Lafayette  got  that  impression. 

While  Adams  was  on  the  Board  of  War,  Oct  ist,  1776, 
he  moved  for  a  committee  on  the  establishment  of  a  mil- 
itary academy,  and  was  one  of  the  committee.  From 
this  suggestion  came  our  West  Point  Military  Academy. 
When  Massachusetts  officers  complained  of  neglect  and 
of  the  overlooking  of  their  merits,  he  showed  them  how 
impolitic  they  had  been  in  various  ways.  He  reminded 
them  of  the  panic  of  New  England  regiments  at  Brook- 
lyn. He  said  there  were  political  reasons  for  appoint- 
ment of  more  southern  than  northern  generals.  He  la- 
mented the  jealousy  toward  New  England  which  had  af- 
fected the  policy  of  the  United  States. 

"Without  it  Mr.  Washington  would  never  have  com- 
manded our  armies;  nor  Mr.  Jefferson  have  been  the  au- 
thor of  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  nor  Mr.  Rich- 
ard Henry  Lee,  the  mover  of  it;  nor  Mr.  Chase,  the  mov- 
er of  foreign  connections; nor  had  Mr.  Johnson 

ever  been  the  nominator  of  Washington  for  General." 
This  he  wrote  in  1822;  but  he  had  felt  it  in  1776.  He 
really  had  been  obliged  to  stand  back  and  get  others  to 
move  his  measures. 

Mr.  Adams  took  a  vacation  to  rest  from  over-work, 
Oct.  1 3th,  1776:  he  left  home  to  go  to  the  Congress  at 
Baltimore,  Jan.  9th,  1777.  His  route  shows  the  diffi- 
culty of  travel.  He  went  on  horseback  through  Con- 
necticut to  Fishkill,  N.  Y. ;  thence  up  to  Poughkeepsie, 


74  JOHN  ADAMS. 

and  crossed  the  Hudson  on  the  ice;  thence  he  rode  to 
New  Windsor,  near  Newburgh,  and  through  Sussex 
county,  N.  J. ,  a  stronghold  of  the  New  Jersey  tones, 
who  treated  him  respectfully,  to  Easton,  Pa.;  thence 
through  Eastern  Pennsylvania  to  Baltimore.  The  weath- 


Congress  House.  Baltimore. 
(From  an  old  Print.)    Congress  met  here  Dec.  12,  1776. 

er  was  sometimes  bitterly  cold,  sometimes  warm,  rainy 
or  snowy;  "roads  abominably  hard  and  rough." 

Nov.  nth,  1777,  Mr.  Adams  left  the  Congress  per- 
manently, returned  home  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
his  profession. 

The  United  States  had  three  "commissioners"  or 
agents  in  France,  Franklin,  Arthur  Lee  and  Silas  Deane. 
Deane  had  mismanaged  his  share  of  the  business  so  much 
that  on  motion  of  Gerry,  John  Adams  was  appointed  to 
supersede  him,  about  Dec.  ist,  1777.  The  position  was 


JOHN  ADAMS.  ft 

undesirable.  Lovell,  R.  H.  Lee  (brother  of  Arthur,) 
Roberdeau,  Gerry,  and  Laurens,  then  president  of  Con- 
gress, wrote  letters  urging  him  to  accept  the  appoint- 
ment, evidently  fearing  he  might  refuse.  He  accepted 
it  promptly.  There  was  danger  of  capture  on  the  way, 
a  stay  in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  the  fate  of  a  con- 
demned rebel. 

Congress  sent  one  of  its  best  vessels  to  carry  him. 
Feb.  1 3th,  1778,  he  left  his  native  town  with  his  son, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  not  yet  eleven  years  old,  on  the 
frigate  Boston.  On  the  2Oth  a  British  ship  of  war  chased 
them;  but  the  Yankee  ship  was  the  better  sailer.  A 
storm  of  three  days  with  a  stroke  of  lightning  that  shat- 
tered the  mainmast  was  the  next  distress.  A  British 
privateer  was  captured,  with  a  valuable  cargo.  Two 
vessels,  apparently  British  war  vessels,  passed  near  them 
without  recognition.  March  29th  a  pilot  boat  brought 
news  of  hostilities  between  England  and  France:  untrue, 
since  no  act  of  war  took  place  until  June;  and  the  two 
nations  went  to  war  without  any  declaration.  On  the 
forty-eighth  day  of  his  voyage,  April  ist,  1778,  he  went 
on  shore  at  Bordeaux,  whence  he  soon  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  found  Franklin,  Deane,  Arthur  Lee,  Ralph 
Izard  and  Dr.  Edward  Bancroft,  all  in  some  way  agents 
of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Adams  found  all  the  Americans  at  Paris  full  of 
animosity  and  jealousy  toward  each  other,  and  toward 
William  Lee,  who  was  appointed  to  Vienna  and  the  Aus- 
trian court,  but  was  staying  in  Germany.  Izard  should 
have  been  in  Italy  at  the  court  of  the  Grand  Duke  of 


76  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Tuscany.  Adams  determined  to  have  no  share  in  their 
quarrels,  and  succeeding  in  avoiding  them,  attending 
strictly  to  business. 

He  found  the  embassy  or  agency  had  no  records,  no 
letter  book,  no  accounts.  He  set  himself  to  introduce 
business  methods;  to  filing  and  copying  letters;  to  recti- 
fying accounts  and  introducing  book-keeping.  The 
American  agents  had  obtained  loans,  made  purchases, 
and  distributed  funds  in  this  lax,  slipshod  way,  for  which 
a  Yankee  has  his  most  contemptuous  word,  "shiftless!" 

Mr.  Adams  wrote  home  to  the  Commercial  Committee 
of  the  Congress.  "Agents  of  various  sorts  are  drawing 
bills  upon  us,  and  the  commanders  of  vessels  of  war  are 
drawing  on  us  for  expenses,  and  [for]  supplies  which  we 

never  ordered We  find  it  so  difficult  to  obtain 

accounts  from  agents  of  the  expenditures  of  moneys  and 
of  the  goods  and  merchandise  shipped  by  them,  that 
we  can  never  know  the  true  state  of  our  finances." 

Some  of  the  agents  must  have  been  surprised  after  the 
easy-going  ways  of  the  commissioners  to  find  their  bills 
and  drafts  refused,  because  they  had  failed  to  render 
proper  statements.  His  colleagues  left  it  to  Adams  to 
write  the  letters,  being  indifferent  or  reluctant  to  adopt 
business  methods.  He  was  polite,  but  firm;  and  the 
men  with  whom  he  dealt  knew  that  he  asked  no  more 
than  was  proper,  and  came  into  the  new  ways  which  he 
succeeded  in  establishing.  In  fact,  financial  affairs  were 
not  much  better  managed  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Mr.  Adams  was  obliged  also  to  make  the  official  visits 
required  by  his  position,  to  make  and  receive  calls  of  cere- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  77 

tnony  and  courtesy,  and  in  so  doing  to  struggle  with  the 
difficulty  of  his  ignorance  of  French.  He  was  so  busy  at 
first  that  he  would  not  take  time  for  lessons  from  a  tutor, 
but  tried  to  learn  from  grammars  and  text-books.  He 
admitted  that  in  this  he  made  a  mistake;  but  he  was  wise 
enough  to  attend  the  theaters  frequently,  having  copies 
of  the  plays  with  him,  so  that  he  could  join  the  printed 
form  of  words  to  the  spoken  language,  and  have  the  best 
models  of  pronunciation  for  imitation.  He  found  that 
Franklin  fluently  talked  a  Franklinian  French,  with  lit- 
tle regard  to  the  grammar. 

The  worst  thing  he  found  was  that  the  Count  de  Ver- 
gennes  liked  Franklin  and  snubbed  the  Lees  and  Izard; 
and  that  the  friends  of  Deane  and  the  adventurers  who 
could  take  advantage  of  him  and  of  the  favor  of  Ver- 
gennes  and  of  Franklin's  easy-going  ways,  were  making 
money  out  of  contracts.  It  was  necessary  to  strike  at 
the  root  of  the  mischief,  and  secure  a  re-organization  of 
foreign  affairs.  He  could  not  write  an  official  letter  to 
the  Congress  without  bringing  his  colleagues  to  agree  to 
his  views:  he  therefore  wrote  a  personal  letter  to  Sam- 
uel Adams,  who  would  be  free  to  talk  of  the  subject; 
the  result  was  that  all  parties  joined  in  amending  the 
lack  of  system. 

Mr.  Adams  advised  (i)  that  there  should  be  but  one 
commissioner,  ambassador  or  envoy  at  any  court.  Each 
of  them  was  obliged  to  keep  up  a  respectable  establish- 
ment, give  formal  dinners,  etc.,  at  an  expense  of  not  less 
than  three  thousand  pounds  sterling:  those  then  at  Paris 
had  expended  from  four  to  six  thousand. 


78  JOHN  ADAMS. 

(2)  That  a  definite  and  sufficient  salary  should  be  as- 
signed to  each  minister.     The  custom  was  for  each   to 
live  as  he  thought  proper,  and  to  draw  for  the  amount. 

(3)  That  the  business  of  commercial  agent  should  be 
separated  from  that  of  ambassador.     The  functions  of 
the  two  should  be  made  distinct  and  kept  so. 

(4)  That  all  the  ministers  at  Paris,  except  one,  should 
be  recalled  or  sent  to  other  places. 

Forthwith  Mr.  Franklin  was  made  sole  representative 
to  France,  Mr.  Arthur  Lee  was  sent  to  Madrid,  and  Mr. 
Adams  was  left  without  assigned  position,  and  not  or- 
dered home.  Col.  Palfrey  was  made  consular  agent  with 
large  financial  powers.  Mr.  Adams  could  not  bear  this 
inaction:  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "I  cannot  eat  pensions 
and  sinecures:  they  would  stick  in  my  throat."  He  got 
passage  after  some  delay  on  the  French  frigate  "Le Sensi- 
ble, "  June  17,  1778,  and  reached  home  Aug.  2d. 

Mr.  Adams's  first  mission  amounted  to  nothing  in  that 
way  of  diplomacy:  it  might  seem  that  it  had  put  him  at 
risk  and  the  country  to  expense,  all  for  nothing.  But 
the  reforms  he  had  wrought  in  the  modes  of  doing  the 
public  business  were  worth  all  the  cost;  and  he  had 
shown  his  ability,  his  honorable  unselfishness,  and  his 
fitness  for  public  service,  now  the  greater  by  his  partial 
acquisition  of  the  French  language. 

He  had  furthermore  learned  enough  of  France  and  the 
schemes  and  spirit  of  the  French  government  to  be  afraid 
of  too  close  a  connection  with  that  power.  He  said,  "It 

is  a  delicate  and  dangerous  connection There 

is  danger  that  the  people  and  their  representatives  may 


JOHN  ADAMS.  79 

have  too  much  timidity  in  their  conduct  towards  this 
power,  and  that  your  ministers  here  [in  France]  may 
have  too  much  diffidence  of  themselves  and  too  much 
complaisance  for  the  court.  There  is  danger  that  French 
councils  and  emissaries  and  correspondents  may  have  too 
much  influence  in  our  deliberations.  I  hope  this  court 
may  not  interfere  by  attaching  themselves  to  persons, 
parties  or  measures  in  America." 

Mr.  Adams  expressed  similar  opinions  to  M.  Marbois 
on  the  voyage  home.  He  was  destined  to  see  all  these 
anticipations  of  evil  fullfilled  before  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury. 

Just  one  week  after  Mr.  Adams  reached  his  home,  the 
town  of  Braintree  elected  him  its  representative  in  a  con- 
vention to  form  a  constitution  for  the  state,  as  the  ar- 
rangements made  in  1774  had  been  considered  provis- 
ional only.  The  practical  character  of  his  thinking 
made  him  a  middle  man  between  extremes.  There  was 
already  developed  in  the  state  an  ultra  democracy,  jealous 
of  any  executive,  judiciary  or  legislature  that  it  might 
itself  create,  desirous  of  retaining  as  much  power  as 
possible  to  the  town-meeting,  and  of  giving  as  little  as 
possible  to  the  state  government.  Samuel  Adams  was 
of  this  party,  but  with  good  sense  enough  to  compromise 
and  avoid  extremes.  Another  party  wanted  the  new 
constitution  to  represent  strongly,  "The  rights  of  prop- 
erty. M  With  neither  of  these  could  John  Adams  agree, 
while  his  plans  might  be  a  medium  that  both  could  ac- 
cept. Though  he  soon  left  the  convention,  his  speech- 
es and  his  work  on  committees  largely  shaped  the  result. 


80  JOHN  ADAMS. 

The  reader  will  find  in  C.  F.  Adams's  life  of  his  grand- 
father, an  interesting  analysis  of  the  complicated  relations 
of  parties  in  the  Continental  Congress  which  had  fallen 
into  dispute  over  their  foreign  affairs,  into  which  dispute 
the  French  minister  put  his  influence.  Negotiation  with 
Great  Britain  was  expected  before  long;  New  England 
wanted  John  Adams  to  have  that  task,  because  the  free 
enjoyment  of  the  fishing  on  the  Newfoundland  banks 
was  important  to  her;  and  she  could  rely  upon  him  to 
look  after  that  interest.  She  distrusted  Mr.  Jay,  who 
was  made  his  rival. 

In  result  Jay  was  made  minister  to  Spain,  whence  Ar- 
thur Lee  was  withdrawn,  while  Adams  was  assigned  to 
the  expected  negotiation  with  Great  Britain,  and  sent  to 
France  to  await  the  opportunity.  Surely  the  two  great- 
est assignments  of  responsibility  to  a  single  man  during 
the  Revolution  were  the  appointment  of  Washington  to 
command  the  armies,  and  the  appointment  of  John  Ad- 
ams to  match  his  patriotism,  judgment  and  skill  against 
the  diplomatic  strength  and  experience  of  our  great  ad- 
versary, and  her  wounded  pride. 

Mr.  Adams  left  Boston  for  Europe  on  the  French  frig- 
ate "Le  Sensible"  the  one  on  which  he  had  returned 
home  three  and  a  half  months  before.  He  took  with 
him  his  sons,  John  Quincy  and  Charles,  Francis  Dana  as 
secretary  of  the  mission,  and  John  Thaxter  as  private 
secretary.  The  vessel  was  unseaworthy:  the  season  was 
unfavorable:  in  danger  of  foundering,  the  ship  put  into 
the  nearest  port  it  could  reach,  Ferrol,  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  Spain,  Dec.  8th.  The  passengers  had  to  make 


PORTION  OF 

NORTH  AMERICA 

AS  FRANCE  WANTtD  TO  DIVIDE 


APfRMAHENT   IhOIAN  LAUDS  TO 
.6E  UMOEB  THE  PROTECTION 
'V~\      OF  THE  UMITED  STATES 


D  PEPMAMEMT  IMtXAN  LAMOi 

D.TO  BE  UMDEQ  THE  PCOTECT- 

ION  OF  SPAIN 


SPaiMCLAIMID  . 

ILLINOIS      HALF  OfinOIAMA 
ANOTX'B-DISTBKT. 


82  JOHN  ADAMS. 

a  long  and  discomfortable  journey  overland,  taking  two 
months  to  reach  Paris.  While  delayed  in  Spain,  Mr. 
Adams  began  to  learn  Spanish,  which  language  he  much 
admired;  but  he  found  nothing  else  to  admire  in  that 
backward  land. 

The  motive  of  France  in  her  interference  in  the  war 
of  the  American  Revolution  was  not  any  desire  to  favor 
liberty  or  republicanism,  or  to  do  any  real  kindness  to 
the  Americans.  Individuals  of  the  French  nation  had 
such  motives.  The  French  government  wished  to  take 
vengeance  upon  her  great  adversary  who  had  taken  from 
her  Canada  and  her  vast  American  possessions,  and  had 
destroyed  her  power  in  India.  Spain  wanted  to  regain 
Gibraltar,  taken  from  her  in  1704,  and  Minorca. 

These  two  powers  were  therefore  ready  to  help  the  re- 
volting colonies  as  soon  as  they  saw  that  the  rebels  made 
a  good  fight,  and  were  not  likely  to  become  reconciled 
with  England.  They  were  pleased  to  see  both  powers 
exhausted  in  the  struggle.  France  had  a  slight  hope  of 
regaining  Canada;  and  she  wanted  Spain  to  regain  the 
Floridas,  and  to  extend  her  power  over  all  the  land  west 
of  the  Alleghenies.  When  she  began  to  fear  that  the 
United  Colonies  might  become  too  strong  to  remain  un- 
der her  thumb,  she  wanted  Canada  extended  to  the  Ohio 
river,  as  an  English  possession.  (See  map,  page  81.) 

It  should  be  constantly  remembered  that  in  all  respects 
France  was  a  false  friend;  her  pretexts  and  promises 
were  deceitful;  and  her  motives  were  merely  vengeance 
and  aggrandizement.  American  youth  think  of  Lafay- 
ette and  Rochambeau,  and  of  King  George,  Lord  North, 


JOHN  ADAMS.  83 

Gage,  Howe  and  Cornwallis,  and  thus  think  of  France 
as  our  friend,  and  England  as  our  enemy;  yet,  in  fact, 
the  English  ministers  secured  to  us  the  land  of  Missis- 
sippi, Alabama,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  while  France  was 
scheming  to  take  them  from  us.  No  nation  has  ever 
treated  us  so  meanly  as  France  has  treated  us,  as  a  king- 
dom, a  republic,  and  an  empire;  and  yet  from  none  have 
we  had  greater  benefits,  given  from  entirely  selfish  mo- 
tives. 

The  Count  De  Vergennes,  French  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  was  not  sixty  years  old  when  our  Revolution 
broke  out.  He  had  been  trained  from  his  youth  in  the 
diplomatic  wiles,  falsehoods,  dishonesties  and  selfish 
wrongs  which  made  the  very  substance  of  diplomacy  in 
those  days.  Franklin  records  an  instance  of  audacious 
lying,  which  involved  Franklin  himself.  In  1776,  in 
May,  Vergennes  arranged  with  King  Louis  XVI  a  grant 
to  the  colonists  of  a  million  livres,  about  $200,000,  to  en- 
courage their  rebellion  to  the  point  of  independence. 
This  was  so  given  as  to  make  it  appear  to  be  the  private 
gift  of  Beaumarchais.  In  1782  Vergennes  told  an  Eng- 
lish envoy,  Thomas  Grenville,  in  the  most  solemn  man- 
ner, that  France  had  never  rendered  any  help  to  the  col- 
onists until  they  had  broken  away  from  Great  Britain, 
and  had  declared  independence.  Turning  toward  Frank- 
lin, he  added,  "There  sits  Mr.  Franklin,  who  knows  the 
fact,  and  can  contradict  me  if  I  do  not  speak  the  truth." 

The  influence  of  this  perfidious  schemer  affected  Amer- 
ican diplomacy  from  its  beginning.  France  was  the  first 


84  JOHN  ADAMS. 

power  that  sent  a  representative  to  the  United  States. 
Grateful  for  this  act  and  for  the  assistance  given,  (though 
Vergennes  meant  the  help  should  be  only  enough  to 
keep  them  from  failing,and  falling  under  England  again), 
Congress  allowed  itself  to  be  much  influenced  by  the 

French  agent,  Gerard,  and  tried 
to  please  him.  Later,  they 
gave  even  greater  regard  to  the 
next  French  representative,Lu- 
zerne. 

When  Congress  was  making 
up  instructions  for  Adams,  they  . 
first  said  that  in  treating  with 
England  he  must  insist  upon 
certain  boundaries,  fishing 
rights,  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, etc.  This  did  not  suitVer- 
gennes:  he  might  want  peace  made  without  such  insis- 
tence; Gerard  therefore  advised  that  independence  only 
should  be  insisted  upon,  these  other  points  being  strong- 
ly urged.  Hence,  two  distinct  commissions  were  given 
to  Adams,  for  a  treaty  of  independence,  and  for  a  treaty 
of  commerce;  and  Mr.  Adams  was  always  to  consult  with 
Vergennes,  and  to  be  guided  by  his  advice. 

Mr. Morse,  in  his  "Life  of  John  Adams,"  keeps  a  pile  of 
brickbats  ready  to  throw  at  him,  being  apparently  much 
more  aware  of  the  defects  of  the  man,  than  of  his  good 
qualities.  This  pile  consists  of  thirty  or  more  injurious 
epithets  and  allegations.  But  at  times,  looking  at  the 
work  he  did,  he  falls  to  praising  him  vigorously.  So 


M.  Gerard. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  85 

at  this  stage  of  the  biography  his  admiration  of  results 
makes  him  say  good  things  so  heartily  that  we  copy  his 
estimate  in  part: 

"Mr.  Adams  was  a  singular  man  to  be  selected  for  a 
difficult  errand  in  diplomacy He  seemed  to  pos- 
sess nearly  every  quality  which  a  diplomatist  ought  not 
to  have,  and  almost  no  quality  which  a  diplomatist  need- 
ed   He  was  of  a  restless,  eager  temperament,  hot 

to  urge  forward  whatever  business  he  had  in  hand,  chaf- 
ing under  any  necessity  for  patience,  disliking  to  bide 
his  time,  frank  and  outspoken  in  spite  of  his  best  efforts 
at  self-control,  and  hopelessly  incapable  of  prolonged 
concealment  of  his  opinions,  motives  and  purposes  in  ac- 
tion, his  likings  and  dislikings  towards  persons 

"Yet  he  was  precisely  the  man  for  the  place  and  the 
duty.  With  the  shrewdness  of  his  race,  he  had  consid- 
erable insight  into  character:  a  strong  element  of  suspic- 
ion led  him  not  quite  to  assume,  as  he  might  have  done, 
that  all  diplomatists  were  dishonest,  but  induced  him  to 
watch  them  with  a  wise  doubt  and  keenness;  he  had  de- 
voted all  the  powers  of  a  strong  mind  to  the  study  of  the 
situation,  so  that  he  was  thoroughly  master  of  all  the 
various  interests  and  probabilities  which  it  was  necessa- 
ry for  him  to  take  into  account. 

"He  was  a  patriot, so  fearless  and  stubborn  that 

he  both  made  and  persisted  in  the  boldest  demands  on 
behalf  of  his  country;  he  was  high-spirited,  too,  and  pre- 
sented such  a  front  that  he  seemed  to  represent  one  of 

the  greatest  powers  in  the  civilized  world in  spite 

of  the  well-known  fact  that  he  had  only  some  revolted 


86  JOHN  ADAMS. 

and  more  than  half  exhausted  colonies  at  his  back 

If  it  was  true  that  quick-sighted  statesmen  easily  saw  what 
he  wanted,  it  was  also  true  that  he  impressed  them  with 
a  sense  that  he  would  make  a  hard  fight  to  get  it;  they 
could  never  expect  to  bully  him,  and  not  easily  to  cir- 
cumvent him He  was  eloquent  and  forcible  in 

discussion,  making  a  deep  impression  by  an  air  of  earnest 
straightforwardness.  All  these  proved  valuable  qualifi- 
cations upon  the  peculiar  mission  on  which  he  was  now 
dispatched. 

"Adams  strode  along  stoutly  in  broad  daylight,  break- 
ing the  snares  which  were  set  for  his  feet,  shouldering 
aside  those  who  sought  to  crowd  him  from  his  path:  un- 
ceremonious, making  direct  for  his  goal,  with  his  eyes 
wide  open,  and  his  tongue  not  silent  to  speak  the  plain 
truth This  trans-Atlantic  negotiator  excited  sur- 
prise   among  the  ministers of  the  Europe- 
an cabinets;  but  in  the  end  he  proved  too  much  for  them 
all:  their  peculiar  skill  was  of  no  avail  against  his  novel 

and  original  tactics So  he  carried  his  points  with 

brilliant  success." 

Mr.  Morse  thinks,  however,  that  if  Adams  had  been 
employed  in  a  career  of  diplomacy,  he  would  have  been 
far  from  successful.  Bismarck  has  in  our  own  genera- 
tion carried  on  negotiations  after  the  fashion  of  Adams; 
but  he  was  backed  by  the  Prussian  and  imperial  power, 
and  used  indirect  methods  also.  He  often  deceived  by 
telling  truth,  because  others  did  not  think  he  would  ex- 
pose his  real  purposes. 

Mr.  Adams  was  commissioned  to  make  treaties  with 


JOHN  ADAMS.  87 

England,  but  could  approach  that  power  only  through 
some  other.  His  instructions  were,  of  course,  private. 
He  was  to  take  the  advice  of  Vergennes,  which  he  at 
once  asked,  whether  to  make  known  his  errand  to  the 
public  or  to  the  English  court.  Vergennes  said  he  could 
not  advise  until  he  should  hear  from  Gerard,  who  "will 
certainly  be  able  to  make  me  better  acquainted  with  the 
nature  and  extent  of  your  commission." 

The  fact  was  that  Vergennes  wanted  to  use  secret  influ- 
ences to  induce  Congress  to  cancel  the  commission  to 
make  a  commercial  treaty.  Adams  felt  that  he  had  too 
little  to  do:  and  observing  that  little  was  really  known 
in  France  of  America  and  its  people,  he  wrote  articles 
for  a  newspaper,  and  sent  notes  of  information  to  Ver- 
gennes, who  was  pleased  to  receive  them.  He  also  wrote 
often  to  Congress. 

At  the  close  of  July,  1780,  Mr.  Adams  went  to  Am- 
sterdam, mainly  to  try  to  get  a  loan  there.  He  found 
that  the  Hollanders  knew  little  of  his  country,  nothing 
of  its  resources  and  prospects.  He  immediately  made 
use  of  a  few  friends  to  the  American  cause  who  gained 
for  him  access  to  the  press.  He  published  translations 
of  the  reports  and  narratives  of  Howe  and  Burgoyne,  as 
the  best  evidences  of  the  strength  of  the  colonies,  and 
extracts  from  writings  of  the  royalist  Governor  Pownal. 
He  procured  through  a  friend  in  Brussels,  the  publica- 
tion in  London  of  articles  written  by  himself,  which  were 
translated  into  the  "Ley  den  Gazette"  Of  course  he  wrote 
articles  for  the  Dutch  papers  himself. 

Mr.  Adams  could  get  no  loan.    Just  then  Henry  Laur- 


88  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ens  was  captured  by  a  British  vessel;  and  among  his  pa- 
pers was  found  correspondence  with  a  leading  Holland- 
er which  excited  the  wrathfnl  suspicion  of  England. 
For  a  while,  no  further  move  could  be  made;  but  Mr. 
Adams's  expected  stay  of  a  few  weeks  was  lengthened 
nearly  to  a  year. 

Receiving  additional  authority,  Mr.  Adams  addressed 
a  memorial  to  the  States  General  of  Holland  in  February 
or  March  of  1781,  stating  that  he  was  authorized  to  sign 
on  behalf  of  the  United  States  the  treaty  of  the  Armed 
Neutrality,  which  was  negotiated  by  Russia  to  curb  the 
insolence  of  Great  Britain  toward  neutrals.  He  sent 
similar  notice  to  the  Ministers  of  France,  Russia,  Swe- 
den and  Denmark  who  were  at  the  Hague. 

Just  a  year  from  his  first  application,  April  i9th,  1782, 
the  States  General  officially  recognized  him  as  envoy  of 
the  United  States:  and  as  such  he  was  formally  present- 
ed to  that  body  four  days  later.  England  had  unwisely 
added  Holland  to  the  number  of  her  enemies  in  arms  by 
a  declaration  of  war,  Nov.  20,  1780.  She  had  now  not 
an  active  friend  in  Europe.  Russia,  Sweden  and  Den- 
mark were  against  her  in  the  Armed  Neutrality;  Holland, 
France  and  Spain  at  war  with  her;  Prussia  was  unfriend- 
ly; and  the  Bourbon  court  of  Naples  and  the  Italian 
states  under  Spanish  influence  would  do'  her  no  kind- 
ness. Portugal,  Austria,  German  principalities  and  Tur- 
key remain:  they  did  nothing  for  her.  But  George  III 
doggedly  held  on. 

After  Adams  left  the  offended  Vergennes  and  began 
his  notable  and  successful  diplomacy  in  Holland,  Ver- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  89 

gennes  did  not  relax  his  efforts  to  influence  the  Congress 
to  recall  the  man  he  disliked.  To  the  shame  of  the 
American  Congress  it  must  be  recorded  that  while  it  re- 
fused to  recall  Adams,  it  did,  under  the  influence  of  Ver- 
gennes  through  Luzerne,  revoke  the  powers  given  him 
to  make  a  commercial  treaty  with  England  as  well  as  a 
treaty  of  peace.  At  the  same  time,  July,  1781,  Congress 


Tower  of  London,  where  Laurens  was  confined. 

created  a  commission  of  five  to  treat  for  a  recognition  of 
independence  and  for  peace;  and  Adams  was  retained  as 
one,  joined  with  Franklin,  Jefferson,  (who  did  not  go  to 
Europe  on  this  business  at  all),  John  Jay,  then  minister 
at  Madrid,  and  Henry  Laurens,  then  prisoner  in  the 
Tower  of  London.  The  five  were  from  Massachusetts, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  South  Carolina. 
But  this  act  of  wisdom  on  the  part  of  Congress  was 
more  than  balanced  by  a  piece  of  supreme  folly.  Once 
certain  ultimata  had  been  set  for  Adams  to  insist  upon: 


go  JOHN  ADAMS. 

first,  boundaries  on  the  north,  about  what  they  are  now: 
on  the  south,  the  line  of  Florida  extended  to  the  Missis- 
sippi: on  the  west,  the  Mississippi:  and  on  the  northeast, 
the  boundary  of  Maine  as  it  had  been  drawn  long  ago  by 
Great  Britain.  Next,  the  envoy  should  insist  on  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi;  next,  the  right  of  fishing 
on  the  banks  as  allowed  to  the  colonists;  and  last,  of 
course,  independence. 

Now,  at  the  bidding  of  Vergennes,  all  these  were 
abandoned  except  the  last.  He  was  willing  that  Ameri- 
ca should  ask  for  the  other  things;  but  he  regarded  them 
as  points  to  be  abandoned  in  the  negotiations  if  France 
and  Spain  could  gain  thereby. 

Still  worse,  the  commissioners  were  instructed  "to 
make  the  most  candid  and  confidential  communications 
upon  all  subjects  to  the  ministers  of  our  generous  ally, 
the  King  of  France;  to  undertake  nothing  in  the  nego- 
tiations for  peace  or  truce  without  their  knowledge  or 
concurrence;  and  ultimately  to  govern  themselves  by 
their  advice  and  opinion." 

Adams  and  Jay  both  felt  hurt  when  they  received  this 
humiliating  instruction:  Franklin  gave  no  sign  of  dis- 
satisfaction. 

Jay  felt  equally  hurt,  being  treated  with  indignity.  At 
Madrid  he  had  discovered  that  France  was  more  an  ally  of 
Spain  than  of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  interests 
of  his  own  country  in  the  West  and  on  the  Mississippi 
were  to  be  sacrificed.  He  did  not  resign,  but  wrote 
home  asking  that  some  other  should  be  sent  to  take  his 
place.  Till  his  successor  should  arrive,  he  remained  as 


JOHN  ADAMS.  91 

one  of  the  commission.  If  Jay  and  Adams  could  agree, 
they  two  must  play  the  game,  Laurens  and  Jefferson  re- 
maining absent. 

Those  engaged  in  the  negotiations  which  ensued,  be- 
side the  three  Americans  were,  on  the  part  of  France, 
Vergennes,  minister  of  foreign  affairs;  Luzerne  and  Mar- 
bois,  minister  and  charge"  in  the  United  States;  the  Count 
de  Montmorin,  minister  to  Spain;  Marquis  d'Ossun, 
agent  sent  to  Spain;  and  Reyneval,  the  confidential  sec- 
retary of  Vergennes,  sent  thrice  as  secret  agent  to  Eng- 
land. On  the  part  of  Spain,  Florida  Blanca,  prime  min- 
ister, and  Count  d'Aranda,  Spanish  minister  at  Paris. 
On  the  part  of  England,  Oswald,  the  chief  agent;  Fitz- 
herbert  and  Strachey  joined  with  Oswald;  Hartley,  plen- 
ipotentiary to  finish  and  sign  the  treaty;  Vaughan,  an 
Englishman  very  friendly  to  America,  used  by  both  par- 
ties: Thomas  Grenville,  sent  by  Fox;  and  inferior  agents, 
Forth,  Digges,  Robert  and  Whitehead.  English  cabi- 
net officers  in  the  same  negotiation  were  the  Ma.quis  of 
Rockingham,  Earl  Shelburne,  the  Duke  of  Portland, 
and  Charles  James  Fox.  The  treaties  were  mainly 
shaped  under  Shelburne. 

The  capture  of  Earl  Cornwallis  and  his  army,  Oct.  19, 
1781,  convinced  Lord  North  that  he  could  not  conquer 
the  colonies,  and  he  must  resign;  but  King  George  begged 
him  to  hold  on  and  keep  up  the  war.  Parliament  turned 
against  the  minister,  and  he  resigned  March  20,  1782. 
He  had  previously  sent  Digges,  unofficially,  to  sound 
Adams  at  Amsterdam,  and  had  sent  Mr.  Forth  to  Ver- 
gennes to  see  whether  the  restoration  of  Canada  would 


92  JOHN  ADAMS. 

tempt  France  to  a  separate  peace.  Other  agents  than 
those  named  above  were  used:  men  who  could  make  a 
suggestion  which  was  not  a  real  offer,  and  which  could 
be  disavowed.  Adams  was  wary,  and  would  not  talk 
with  Digges  except  in  the  presence  of  a  witness  and  with 
leave  10  report  to  Vergennes.  King  George  was  tricky, 
and  would  talk  with  Shelburne  secretly,  not  permitting 
him  to  tell  the  other  ministers;  and  probably  he  deceived 
Shelburne  in  the  same  way. 

Shelburne  and  Fox,  fellow  ministers,  quarreled  as  to 
which  should  conduct  the  negotiation.  If  they  were 
treated  as  colonies,  they  belonged  to  Shelburne:  if  as  a 
nation,  they  came  into  Fox's  department  of  foreign  af- 
fairs. Shelburne  had  the  bad  reputation  of  being  unre- 
liable, deceptive.  Dr.  Franklin  wrote  Shelburne  a  let- 
ter as  a  private  person:  thereupon,  Shelburne  sent  Os- 
wald without  the  knowledge  of  the  English  cabinet  to 
inquire  informally  upon  what  terms  America  would 
make  peace.  Franklin  told  him  he  must  consult  Ver- 
gennes. Oswald  expected  America  to  make  peace  sep- 
arately. Just  so  Fox  sent  Grenville  to  treat  with  France 
separately.  This  division  of  counsels  broke  up  the  Eng- 
lish cabinet,  after  it  had  led  Vergennes  and  Franklin  to 
suspect  double-dealing  and  deception.  Fox  went  out. 

Jay  had  been  summoned  by  Franklin  from  Madrid, 
where  he  was  gaining  nothing,  to  join  in  the  negotiation 
at  Paris.  He  was  an  acute  lawyer.  He  was  not  a  rep- 
resentative of  "Thirteen  colonies  or  plantations  in  North 
America,"  but  of  a  sovereign  power  that  had  asserted  its 
independence  and  proved  it  by  war.  He  was  told  that 


JOHN  ADAMS.  93 

the  treaty  would  recognize  the  fact  That  would  not 
suit  him:  he  must  be  addressed  as  a  commissioner  from 
the  United  States,  an  existing  power,  not  a  state  to  be 
created  by  a  concession  in  a  treaty. 

Franklin  cared  not  for  the  point:  he  was  satisfied  if 
the  main  point  should  be  gained,  no  matter  how.  Ver- 
gennes  sided  with  Shelburne,  and  let  him  know  it.  Jay 
wrote  to  Adams  in  Holland,  who  sustained  his  point. 
The  two  lawyers  knew  the  importance  of  terms.  Adams 
suggested  that  the  recognition  might  be  merely  inciden- 
tal and  not  formally  direct:  if  Oswald  were  directed  to 
treat  with  the  commissioners  from  the  United  States  of 
America,  it  would  be  satisfactory  to  him.  Shelburne 
took  advantage  of  the  simple  suggestion;  the  parties 
were  then  ready  to  treat. 

Jay  and  Franklin  stated  their  case:  they  asked  the 
things  which  have  been  named  on  a  preceding  page  as 
the  original  ultimata  of  the  Congress:  England  refused, 
objected,  haggled,  so  as  to  give  as  little  as  she  could,  and 
put  forward  her  claims. 

The  Americans  demanded  that  the  Mississippi  should 
be  their  western  boundary,  as  it  had  been  England's 
boundary  by  the  peace  of  1763.  The  northwestern  re- 
gion was  claimed  in  virtue  of  the  conquest  made  by  Gen. 
George  Rogers  Clarke,  when  Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia 
were  taken,  and  the  English  possession  ousted.  Eng- 
land had  no  posts  south  of  Detroit  and  Mackinac.  Flor- 
ida was  then  English,  by  possession,  but  with  no  Eng- 
lish settlements  to  speak  of;  and  it  might  be  ceded  to 
Spain  in  this  negotiation.  But  the  United  States  claimed 


94  JOHN  ADAMS. 

as  belonging  to  Georgia  the  shore  of  the  great  river  as 
far  south  as  what  is  now  the  southern  line  of  the  state  of 
Mississippi. 

Spain  set  up  a  counter-claim  of  nearly  all  west  of  the 
Alleghenies,  and  during  this  negotiation  sent  a  military 
expedition  from  St.  Louis  across  Illinois,  and  built '  a 
small  fort  at  Niles,  Mich.,  so  as  to  claim  actual  occupa- 
tion. Vergennes  supported  Spain,  and  said  the  Ameri- 
can claims  were  too  extensive  and  unjust.  Jay  had  been 
growing  more  and  more  suspicious  of  the  ally  under 
whose  thumb  the  commission  was  placed;  and  although 
as  a  New  Yorker  he  had  no  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
the  West  and  of  the  navigation  of  the  river,  the  value 
evidently  put  upon  these  by  the  other  party  changed  his 
views. 

The  eastern  edge  of  Maine  was  in  question,  but  was 
more  easily  proved:  so  England  gave  up  the  boundary 
by  the  Kennebec  or  the  Penobscot,  and  accepted  the  St. 
Croix.  Franklin  had  met  the  English  claims  by  a  sug- 
gestion that  England  ought  to  give  us  Canada  and  Nova 
Scotia. 

The  right  to  the  fisheries  was  especially  valuable  to 
New  England,  whose  citizens  wanted  the  same  enjoy- 
ment of  them  that  they  had  had  as  colonists.  The  Eng- 
lish wished  to  curtail  or  deny  this  claim.  Again  Ver- 
gennes took  sides  against  the  Americans,  and  pronounced 
their  claim  unjust. 

Another  point  upon  which  the  English  were  very 
strenuous  was  compensation  for  the  loyalists  or  tories 
who  had  been  expelled,  or  for  fear  of  ill-treatment,  had 


JOHN  ADAMS.  95 

thought  it  best  to  emigrate.  There  were  thousands  of 
shese  in  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick  and  Canada.  The 
tToperty  of  many  of  them  had  been  confiscated  by  action 
cf  the  states  because  of  their  loyalty  to  the  King.  They 
certainly  had  claims  upon  Great  Britain;  and  that  pow- 
er very  naturally  undertook  to  make  reclamation  upon 
(he  United  States.  Debts  due  to  British  merchants 
might  be  refused;  and  their  claims  were  joined  by  Eng- 
land with  those  of  the  loyalists.  Vergennes,  in  these 
'Hatters  took  the  English  side. 

Franklin  and  Jay  were  having  their  hands  full  with 
all  this  business,  and  were  glad  when  Adams  was  ready 
to  join  them.  On  the  seventh  of  October,  1782,  he  had 
signed  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  the  United 
Provinces,  generally  called  Holland,  and  addressed  as 
their  High  Mightinesses. 

On  the  26th  of  October,  Adams  arrived  from  Holland 
at  Paris.  Both  the  English  agents  and  the  French  ne- 
gotiators were  afraid  of  him.  His  sharply  incisive  and 
decisive  character  was  well  known  to  Vergennes,  and 
had  been  reported  to  the  English.  Oswald  had  been  do- 
ing business  with  Jay  and  Franklin.  Wh  n  sending 
him  with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Dr.  Franklin,  Shel- 
burne  had  spoken  of  him  as  "A  pacifical  man:"  he  had 
lately  concluded  that  he  was  too  pacifical,  too  easily 
yielding  to  the  Americans.  He  therefore  joined  with 
Oswald  about  this  time  Mr.  Henry  Strachey,  as  a  better 
exponent  of  English  pertinacity.  His  function  was  to 
stiffen  Oswald,  and  fight  stoutly  the  American  claims. 

Adams  and  Jay  both  felt  the  meanness   of  the  po- 


g6  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ition  assigned  them  by  the  orders  of  Congress.  While 
they  must  reveal  everything  to  Vergennes,  they  found 
that  that  minister  was  sending  secret  agents  to  Eng- 
land and  concealing  from  them  his  action  affecting 
their  interests.  He  had  assigned  to  them  the  hard  task 
of  settling  the  Mississippi  question  with  the  Spaniard, 
D'Aranda,  evidently  intending  that  they  should  yield  to 
him. 

Should  they  continue  to  obey  instructions  so  detri- 
mental? Should  they  dare  disobey?  To  this  Franklin 
said,  "No."  Yet  Franklin  had  twice  made  secret  over- 
tures to  Shelburne.  In  a  meeting  of  the  three,  Adams 
and  Jay  told  Franklin  their  determination  to  proceed 
without  informing  Vergennes.  Franklin's  reasons  were 
personal  rather  than  political,  because  of  his  long  inti- 
macy with  the  French  court;  and  he  soon  agreed  with 
his  colleagues. 

The  treaty-making  now  went  on  rapidly  with  Oswald, 
Vaughan  and  Strachey,  the  last-named,  furnishing  acidi- 
ty and  bitterness  enough  for  the  whole  British  Embassy. 
The  boundary  questions  were  easily  arranged.  Massa- 
chusetts had  furnished  proof  of  the  eastern  boundary  of 
her  district  of  Maine.  The  British  accepted  the  line  of 
the  middle  of  the  great  lakes  and  the  Mississippi,  with  a 
secret  article  about  the  southern  boundary,  dependent 
upon  the  final  disposition  of  Florida.  For  debts  it  was 
provided  on  suggestion  of  Adams  that  the  American 
courts  should  be  open  for  their  recovery,  none  being  cut 
off  by  the  war. 

The  fisheries  were  a  subject  of  a  long  contention,  made 


JOHN  ADAMS.  97 

more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  France  was  negotiating  on 
the  same  subject. 

Really  the  hardest  subject  was  indemnity  to  the  refu- 
gees. When  all  seemed  to  have  reached  agreement, 
Mr.  Strachey  left  for  London  with  a  copy  of  the  articles, 
but  left  a  note  saying  that  unless  indemnity  were  pro- 
vided, no  treaty  would  be  had.  Vaughan  kindly  fol- 
lowed to  counteract  the  influence  of  Strachey.  He  pre- 
sented the  reasons  of  the  American  envoys:  that  they 
had  no  power  to  bind  the  individual  states  to  any  line  of 
action;  that  the  refugees  could  be  shown  to  have  pro- 
longed the  war  and  to  have  done  much  damage;  that  pro- 
longing the  war  on  their  account  would  cost  England 
more  than  to  indemnify  them  herself,  and  would  be  a 
hopeless  effort.  The  commissioners  could  promise  that 
Congress  should  recommend  to  the  States  a  liberal  treat- 
ment of  the  loyalists. 

Earl  Shelburne  saw  that  it  was  vain  to  continue  the 
war;  that  Ireland  was  a  source  of  danger;  that  the  mood 
of  the  king  was  very  uncertain;  that  his  tenure  of  office 
was  precarious.  He  must  have  the  peace;  policy  and 
judgment  both  demanding  it.  He  sent  back  Strachey, 
and  Fitzherbert  with  him,  to  make  peace.  Mr.  Laurens, 
freed  from  the  Tower  on  parole,  had  joined  the  commis- 
sion. Strachey  returned  Nov.  25th,  in  ill  humor:  but 
the  four  days'  discussion  on  the  fisheries  ended  'in  the 
adoption  of  Mr.  Adams's  article  with  slight  changes;  and 
on  Saturday,  Nov.  3Oth,  1782,  exactly  five  weeks  from 
the  day  when  Adams  returned  to  Paris,  the  preliminary 
treaty  was  signed,  and  peace  was  assured. 


98  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Doubtless  Vergennes  was  observant  and  shrewd  enough 
to  know  that  the  Americans  were  pushing  their  own 
treaty;  nor  did  he  object  when  they  told  him  what  was 
done.  But  some  fifteen  days  later,  when  he  met  with 
some  difficulty  in  his  own  negotiations,  he  suddenly  sus- 
pected that  the  United  States  would  join  England  against 
France.  He  accused  the  envoys  of  bad  faith;  they  were 
bound  to  make  no  treaty  except  in  union  with  France. 
They  easily  defended  themselves,  since  they  had  stipu- 
lated that  their  treaty  should  not  become  valid  until 
France  and  England  had  agreed:  they  merely  had  their 
part  ready.  He  also  complained  to  Congress  about  their 
secrecy,  and  failure  to  consult  him.  The  commissioners 
were  justly  incensed  when  they  received  a  rebuke  from 
Robert  R.  Livingston,  who  was  in  charge  of  foreign  af- 
fairs, who,  instead  of  praising  them  for  their  skill  and 
perseverance  and  good  achievements,  found  fault  with 
them  for  doing  well,  without  French  supervision.  Liv- 
ingston apologized  to  Vergennes,  and  told  him  of  the  se- 
cret article,  which  did  not  relate  to  France  at  all. 

The  commissioners  were  rightly  angry,  and  prepared 
a  sharp  and  long  reply  by  Mr.  Jay;  but  it  was  not  sent. 
Adams  wrote  that  the  conduct  of  Congress  was  infamous. 
But  he  suppressed  his  wrath,  and  remained  at  his  post, 
though  very  homesick.  As  soon  as  the  definitive  treaty 
was  assured,  he  sent  his  resignation  Dec.  4th,  1782,  and 
joyfully  wrote  to  his  wife  that  he  should  soon  be  at  home, 
in  spring  or  early  summer:  he  would  come  home  even  if 
his  resignation  were  not  accepted.  But  he  found  he  must 
wait;  and  in  September,  1783,  the  same  three  were  ap- 


JOHtf  ADAMS.  99 

pointed  to  make  a  commercial  treaty  with  England. 
But  he  was  worn  out,  and  broke  down  with  a  fever. 
Sir  James  Jay,  physician  and  friend,  cared  for  him,  and 
sent  him  to 
England  Oct 
24th.  He  had 
had  the  hon- 
or and  pleas- 
ure of  sign- 
ing the  final 
treaty  of 
peace,  Sept. 
3d,and  hoped 
to  rest  i  n 
England.  He 
was  in  the 
Parliament 
when  George 
III  publicly 
confessed  his 
defeat  and 
the  indepen- 
dence of  the 

re  COl~Mrs.  Wm.  S.  Smith  (Abigail  Adams)  daughter  of  John  Adams. 

r>mVc         T*  Vi  A  From  the  Painting  by  Copley.    By  courtesy  of 

D  Appleton&Co. 

necessities  of 

the  public  credit  obliged  him  to  make  a  voyage  to 
Holland  in  the  winter  through  hardships  severe  for  a 
well  man.  He  now  sent  for  his  wife  and  daughter,  who 
came  in  the  summer  of  1 784. 


I00  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Congress  next  made  Adams,  Franklin  and  Jefferson  a 
commission  to  make  commercial  treaties  with  any  or  all 
powers.  Prussia  was  the  first  to  accept  the  offer.  Mr. 
Adams  had  taken  a  house  near  Paris.  But  Feb.  24, 
1785,  Congress  appointed  him  the  first  minister  of  the 
United  States  to  Great  Britain.  Vergennes  congratulated 
him  saying,  "It  is  a  mark."  But  it  was  also  a  great 
task.  The  Duke  of  Dorset,  minister  to  France,  said  to 
him,  "You  will  be  stared  at  a  great  deal."  '-'I  fear  they 
will  gaze  with  evil  eyes,"  replied  Mr.  Adams.  The  duke, 
with  more  courtesy  than  truthfulness,  said  they  would 
not. 

Mr.  Adams  was  presented  to  the  king  in  a  private  au- 
dience, June  ist,  1785,  by  the  Marquis  of  Carmarthen. 
Naturally  he  felt  some  nervousness  and  embarrassment. 
The  king  had  heard  that  Adams  had  lost  confidence  in 
the  French  court,  and  alluded  to  this  slightly,  but  spoke 
of  the  common  blood  and  the  common  language.  Ad- 
ams assented  to  the  drift  of  the  king's  language,  but 
ended  his  reply  with  the  sentence,  "I  avow  to  your  maj- 
esty that  I  have  no  attachment  but  to  my  own  country." 
The  king  seemed  pleased  with  this  sturdy  patriotism. 

When  Adams  demanded  the  fulfillment  of  the  treaty 
of  1783,  and  the  evacuation  of  Mackinac,  Detroit,  and 
other  posts,  he  was  reminded  that  the  states  had  not  re- 
garded the  treaty,  had  hindered  the  collection  of  debts; 
and  when  he  proposed  a  commercial  treaty,  he  was  told 
that  the  states  made  their  own  tariffs.  A  policy  of  re- 
pression of  American  trade  was  adopted. 

Mr.  Adams  saw  that  he  was  doing  no  good,  and  sent 


JOHN  ADAMS.  101 

in  his  resignation,  which  was  accepted  Oct.  5th,  1787, 
and  he  left  England  April  20,  1 788,  thoroughly  disgust- 
ed with  England,  France  and  diplomatic  service. 

Up  to  this  time  no  man  save  Washington  had  rendered 
as  much  sen-ice  to  his  country  as  Adams  had  given;  no 
other  had  gained  equal  results;  no  one  had  excelled  him 
in  political  knowledge  and  ability,  foresight,  patience, 
perseverance,  endurance  and  daring  in  times  of  crisis.  In 
recognition  of  such  qualities  and  services,  his  country- 
men in  organizing  under  the  new  constitution  placed 
him  as  alternate  to  Washington,  Vice  President  of  the 
United  States. 

The  election  to  the  Vice  Presidency  was  not  altogeth- 
er pleasant  to  Mr.  Adams,  not  because  of  any  aspiration 
for  the  highest  place,  but  because,  while  Washington 
was  elected  unanimously,  Adams  did  not  have  a  majority 
of  the  votes  cast.  As  the  constitution  then  stood,  elec- 
tors put  two  names  on  their  ballots  without  specifying 
which  person  was  meant  for  president:  if  two  had  the 
same  number,  the  House  of  Representatives  should 
choose  between  them.  Seeing  the  possibility  of  such  an 
ambiguous  election,  Hamilton  suggested  that  some  of  the 
electors  should  throw  their  votes  aside  from  Adams, 
whose  election  was  expected. 

Unfortunately,  no  concert  being  possible,  thirty-five 
electors  threw  their  votes  away  as  compliments  to  ten 
persons,  leaving  only  thirty-four  for  Adams,  who  said, 
writing  to  a  friend,  "I  have  seen  the  utmost  delicacy 
used  towards  others,  but  my  feelings  have  never  been  re- 
garded." 


,02  JOHN  ADAMS. 

It  did  seem  hard,  when  he  returned  to  his  native 
country,  for  which  he  had  done  and  suffered  so  much,  to 
find  that  he  was  not  appreciated  as  he  thought  he  should 
be.  From  that  time  he  and  Hamilton  were  often  in 
conflict. 

When  the  constitution  was  proposed,  two  parties  arose 
at  once,  those  who  favored  the  adoption  of  it,  called  Fed- 
eralists, and  those  opposed  to  it,  called  Anti-Federalists, 
until  they  organized  as  Republicans  or  Democratic  Re- 
publicans. Generally  those  who  had  opposed  the  con- 
stitution feared  that  the  central  government  would  en- 
croach on  the  rights  of  the  states  or  of  the  people:  they 
took  the  name  Republicans  or  Democratic  Republicans, 
or  were  called  Democrats. _ 

Ten  days  before  the  inauguration  of  Washington,  Mr. 
Adams  was  installed  as  Vice  President,  April  20,  1789, 
and  began  to  preside  over  the  Senate,  at  New  York. 
That  body  was  almost  equally  divided  between  Federa- 
lists and  Republicans,  so  that  the  first  Vice  President 
had  to  give  the  casting  vote  no  less  than  twenty  times 
during  the  sessions  of  the  first  Congress  and  nine  times 
during  the  second.  No  other  presiding  officer  of  that 
body  has  had  such  experience.  He  did  not  decide  as  a 
Federalist  partisan,  but  always  on  what  he  deemed  the 
merits  of  the  question.  Some  very  important  questions 
were  thus  decided  by  him. 

Mr.  Adams  rather  despised  an  office  which  gave  him 
so  little  to  do,  and  in  which  he  was  obliged  to  listen  to 
debates  without  sharing  in  them.  He  must  often  have 
seen^that  a  little  of  his  knowledge  and  of  his  logic  would 


JOHN  ADAMS.  103 

clear  a  befogged  matter  He  wrote  to  his  wife  Dec.  igth, 
1793,  "My  country  has  in  its  wisdom  contrived  for  me 
the  most  insignificant  office  that  ever  the  invention  of 
man  contrived  or  his  imagination  conceived.  And  as  I 
can  do  neither  good  nor  evil,  I  must  be  borne  away  by 
others  and  meet  the  common  fate. "  But  he  undervalued 
his  place.  He  had  a  long  rest  from  labor  and  responsi- 
bility; and  Washington  often  consulted  him  on  public 
affairs  as  if  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  cabinet. 

In  1792  Washington  was  again  elected  unanimously, 
and  Adams  had  the  full  vote  of  the  Federal  party,  sev- 
enty seven  votes;  George  Clinton  of  New  York  had  the 
votes  of  four  states,  and  Jefferson  of  one:  total,  fifty-four. 

With  the  most  of  the  important  events  of  Washing- 
ton's administrations,  Mr.  Adams  had  no  connection. 
Washington  was  of  the  Federalist  policy,  but  took  into 
his  cabinet  the  two  strongest  available  men,  Alexander 
Hamilton  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  soon  became  the 
heads  of  the  two  opposing  parties.  He  was  not  able  to 
hold  them  both  as  his  secretaries;  in  fact,  both  resigned. 

When  it  was  settled  that  Washington  would  not  ac- 
cept the  presidency  a  third  time,  Hamilton  began  schem- 
ing to  push  Adams  aside. 

Adams  thoroughly  disliked  Hamilton,  who  returned 
the  feeling  as  strongly.  Adams's  expressions  in  a  letter  to 
Knox  were  more  extravagant  than  a  cooler  mood  would 
have  allowed.  It  is  not  fair  to  deduce  "some  of  his 
traits"  from  such  a  passionate  utterance,  any  more  than 
it  would  be  to  judge  Washington  from  what  he  said  to 
Lee  at  Monmouth,  or  from  his  curses  upon  St.  Clair. 


I04  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Mr.  Adams  was  elected  by  seventy-one  electoral  vott.5 
over  Jefferson's  sixty-eight.  He  had  solitary  votes  from 
Pennsylvania,  North  Carolina,  and  even  from  Virginia, 
the  rest  of  the  votes  of  those  states  going  to  Jefferson. 
Had  two  of  these  been  given  to  Jefferson,  they  would 
have  elected  him.  The  republicans  sneered  at  Adams 
as  the  president  of  three  votes.  Jefferson  became  Vice 
President.  When  news  of  the  election  made  it  look 
as  if  the  election  might  go  into  the  House,  he  said  he 
washed  his  old  friend  Adams  to  win. 

Washington  \vas  tired  of  the  office,  and  longed  to  be 
free.  He  had  been  sorely  abused,  "in  terms,"  says 
Schouler,  "scarcely  applicable  to  a  Nero,  a  defaulter,  or 
a  common  pickpocket."  An  anti-Federal  paper  called 
him  a  fool.  A  paper  in  Philadelphia  published  by  B.  F. 
Bache,  a  grandson  of  Franklin,  was  very  virulent  in  its 
attacks  upon  Washington  both  as  President  and  as  a 
man.  He  was  charged  with  misusing  the  public  funds 
for  his  own  advantage.  Forged  letters  got  up  by  the  tor- 
ies  in  1776,  in  which  he  was  said  to  have  expressed  him- 
self against  independence  and  Congress,  were  republished 
as  genuine.  It  was  said  that  ten  thousand  people  were 
threatening  to  drag  him  out  of  his  house  and  make  him 
resign  or  favor  France. 

Jefferson  employed  in  his  department  a  clerk,  Frentau, 
who  was  editor  of  an  abusive  paper.  "The  Aurora"  re- 
joiced that  Washington's  career  was  ended,  saying  that 
he  had  carried  his  designs  against  the  public  liberty  so 
far  as  to  have  put  in  jeopardy  its  very  existence." 

Washington  at   a    cabinet  meeting  broke  down  in  a 


JOHN  ADAMS.  105 

transpor.  of  "indignation  and  grief  at  the  personal  abuse 
heaped  uoon  him." 

If  the  Republicans  so  abused  Washington,  whom  we 
venerate,  what  would  they  not  say  against  John  Adams? 
Poor  Adams,  if  not  really  more  sensitive  than  Washing- 
ton, seemed  to  be  so,  and  could  not  conceal  his  irritation 
and  wrath.  That  delighted  his  tormentors  the  more. 
It  was  an  age  of  coarse  vituperation,  as  well  as  of  bitter 
political  hatreds  and  groundless  suspicions. 

The  folly  of  George  III  had  made  monarchy  hateful. 
As  the  aristocracy  of  England  had,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, supported  the  usurpations  of  the  king,  Aristocracy 
was  the  second  bugbear,  hiding  in  every  bush.  Blank 
equality  was  the  rage.  A  society  like  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic  would  have  been  an  evident  threat  of  a 
standing  army  and  of  the  downfall  of  liberty.  Legisla- 
tion to  prohibit  it  would  have  been  enacted  in  every  state. 

The  officers  of  the  army  that  had  won  independence 
formed  a  society,  the  Cincinnati,  with  the  right  of  mem- 
bership hereditary.  That  was  founding  an  order  of  no- 
bility. Public  opinion  frowned  upon  the  innocent  asso- 
ciation, and  it  almost  withered  away. 

Seeing  the  quarrel  between  Hamilton,  the  actual  lead- 
er of  the  Federalists,  and  Adams,  the  executive  chief 
whom  they  had  elected,  the  Republicans  seemed  to  have 
thought  that  he  might  be  detached  from  the  Federal 
party. 

The  French  Revolution  exerted  great  influence  upon 
American  feeling  and  policy.  At  first,  all  parties  were 
hopeful  of  a  genuine  reform  in  France,  and  a  govern- 


io6  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ment  with  at  least  a  good  measure  of  freedom.  But 
when  the  rule  of  a  mob  replaced  the  autocracy  of  the 
king,  and  cold-blooded  butcheries  were  perpetrated  in 
the  name  of  liberty,  there  was  a  great  revulsion  of  feel- 
ing. France  and  England  were  soon  at  war.  Washing- 
ton proclaimed  neutrality;  but  the  French  ambassador, 
Genet,  acted  as  if  this  country  belonged  to  him,  and  un- 
dertook to  fit  out  war  vessels  in  our  ports.  He  gave  Wash- 
ington great  trouble. 

The  Republicans  sympathized  more  with  the  French, 
and  were  against  England,  which  continued  its  haughty 
abuse  of  our  country  till  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon. 
They  called  the  Federalists  a  British  party.  The  retort 
upon  them  was  that  they  favored  anarchy  and  barbarity. 
France  claimed  the  benefit  of  the  treaty  of  alliance  of 
1778;  and  when  Washington  proclaimed  neutrality,  she 
proclaimed  blockades,  and  began  to  seize  American  ships. 
We  really  were  for  months  at  war  with  France. 

Fortunately  for  us,  Ambassador  Adams  had  freed  him- 
self from  all  notion  of  obligation  to  that  country  that 
had  helped  the  United  Colonies  only  to  gratify  a  grudge 
against  an  ancient  enemy;  and  he  had  had  such  an  un- 
pleasant experience  in  England  that  he  had  no  prepos- 
session now  for  what  had  been  "The  mother-country." 
Hence,  President  Adams  could  keep  the  ship  of  state  on 
the  course  of  impartial  neutrality. 

President  Adams  committed  one  great  mistake  in  pol- 
icy. Washington  had  found  difficulty  in  getting  suita- 
ble persons  to  follow  Jefferson,  Hamilton  and  Knox, 
when  they  resigned  from  his  cabinet.  He  had  offered 


JOHN  ADAMS.  107 

the  Secretaryship  of  State  to  Wm.  Patterson,  Thomas 
Johnson,  C.  C.  Pinckney  and  Patrick  Henry,  all  of  whom 
declined  it:  he  had  then  put  Timothy  Pickering,  former 
Postmaster-General  and  then  secretary  of  war,  into  the 
place:  Carrington  and  Howard  of  Maryland  refusing  the 
portfolio  of  the  war  department,  he  gave  that  to  Me  Hen- 
ry, and  advanced  Oliver  Wolcott  to  the  Treasury.  Pick- 
ering, Wolcott  and  Me  Henry  were  really  only  second  or 
third  rate  men,  worth  little  as  advisers.  Adams  did  not 
try  to  make  a  new  cabinet,  but  continued  these  in  office. 

The  worst  of  the  matter  was  that  instead  of  looking  to 
their  chief  for  direction,  they  looked  for  orders  to  Ham- 
ilton as  the  head  of  the  party,  and  tried  to  bend  Adams 
to  Hamilton's  purposes.  They  wrote  Hamiltonian  pa- 
pers for  him  to  sign,  and  proposed  Hamiltonian  nomina- 
tions. The  consequence  was  that  after  enduring  much 
discourtesy  and  even  insolence  from  them,  in  an  explo- 
sion of  indignation  he  dismissed  Me  Henry  and  Picker- 
ing, who  became  bitter  and  treacherous  enemies.  But 
he  never  knew  how  much  all  three  had  betrayed  him. 

Seeing  the  probability  of  war,  Adams  did  all  he  could 
to  increase  the  army  and  especially  the  navy,  but  with 
only  moderate  success.  It  was  one  of  the  mistakes  of 
the  Republicans  to  scant  these  arms  of  defense. 

President  Adams  determined  to  make  a  treaty  with 
fractious  France,  and  consulted  with  Jefferson,  whom  he 
would  have  sent  as  minister,  had  they  not  both  agreed 
that  such  function  was  unsuitable  for  a  Vice  President 
Madison  would  not  go  with  Hamilton  as  colleague.  Adams 
was  evidently  no  narrow  partisan.  In  the  face  of  warm 


io8  JOHN  ADAMS. 

opposition  of  his  secretaries,  Pickering  and  Wolcott,  he 
sent  Marshall  and  C.  C.  Pinckney,  Federalists,  and  Ger- 
ry, Republican. 

They  were  received,  but  were  soon  informed  that  to 
get  a  treaty  they  must  furnish  certain  sums  of  money 
as  bribes  and  loans.  Talleyrand  was  their  foreign  min- 
ister for  the  Directory.  Pinckney  answered  quickly, 
"not  a  cent,  not  a  cent;"  and  after  his  return,  at  a  din- 
ner, gave  the  famous  sentiment,  "Millions  for  defense, 
not  a  cent  for  tribute."  Gerry  remained  after  the  others 
left,  because  Talleyrand  told  him  France  would  declare 
war  if  he  left.  Immediately,  further  wrongs  were  inflict- 
ed on  our  commerce. 

The  President  reported  the  failure  to  Congress,  and 
advised  that  preparations  for  war  be  pushed.  Jefferson 
hated  war  as  if  he  had  been  trained  as  a  Quaker.  His 
party  in  Congress  opposed  the  preparations  for  war.  The 
correspondence  of  the  envoys  was  called  for.  They  had 
obtained  memoranda  of  the  requirement  of  bribes  and 
tribute  in  writing.  The  president  put  the  letters  X,  Y 
and  Z  in  place  of  the  names  of  the  agents,  Hottinguer, 
Bellamy  and  Hautval,  and  sent  the  whole  disgraceful 
story  to  Congress.  A  tempest  of  anger  arose  in  all  the 
land.  War  was  demanded.  Support  was  promised  on 
all  sides. 

The  president  was  overwhelmed  with  evidences  of 
popularity.  But  he  was  as  little  shaken  by  this  as  by 
opposition.  He  was  not  ready  for  war,  and  would  not 
recommend  it.  He  recalled  Gerry,  and  said  he  would 
not  send  another  minister  till  he  had  assurance  that  he 


JOHN  ADAMS.  109 

would  be  received  with  honor.  Washington  was  named 
to  command  the  army  with  the  new  rank  of  Lieutenant- 
General,  and,  at  his  request,  Adams  nominated  for  gen- 
erals next  in  rank,  Hamilton,  C.  C.  Pinckney  and  Knox, 
which  led  to  a  squabble  for  precedence. 

In  the  midst  of  this  flurry  were  passed  the  famous  Ali- 
en and  Sedition  laws. 


Home  of  John  Adams.  Quincy.  Mass..  where  he  passed  the  last 
years  of  his  life. 

If  the  AliejLAjCt  had  been  passed  in  Washington's  time, 
he  would "Eave  used  it  to  get  rid  of  Genet,  no  doubt 
The  worst  of  the  act  is  that  it  gave  the  president  an  ir- 
responsible power  to  act  as  jrH.g^.anfi  jnry  ari^  ''Yfuti.™* 
if  any  alien  g*»*»™*»^  «-*\  hi™  ofrnoxious.  and  to  send  such 


person  out  of  the  country.  The  reader  w»ll  be  reminded 
of  Lincoln's  action  in  May,  1863,  when  he  sent  Vallan- 
digham,  convicted  of  disloyal  utterances,  into  the  terri- 
tory held  by  the  Confederate  States.  Adams  never  used 
the  Alien  Law. 

*P!le~Sedition  law  forbad  the  publication  of  any  writ- 


no  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ing  "false,  scandalous  and  malicious,"  with  intent  to  de- 
fame the  government,  Congress,  or  the  president,  or  to 
bring  them  into  contempt  or  disrepute.  This  was  so 
worded  that  it  might  be  used  against  reasonable  political 
discussion.  A  few  prosecutions  occurred  under  it.  Mr. 
Adams  did  not  ask  for  or  recommend  these  acts;  but  he 
is  so  far  responsible  for  thetn  as  this;  when  they  were 
enacted  by  his  paity,  he  did  not  veto  them. 

When  Talleyrand  indicated  to  the  American  minister 
at  the  Hague  through  the  French  minister  there,  that  an 
American  envoy  would  be  honorably  received,  Adams 
overruled  the  opposition  of  his  Hamiltonian  secretaries, 
and  in  defiance  of  the  Federal  majority  of  the  Senate 
named  a  peace  commission  to  go  to  France  that  they 
dared  not  reject;  Ellsworth,  Murray  and  Patrick  Henry. 
War  was  averted  and  peace  made;  but  work  on  the  n.avy 
continued. 

The  cabinet  tried  to  delay  the  departure  of  the  com- 
mission: his  peremptory  orders  overruled  them.  This 
quarrel  disrupted  his  party,  and  prevented  a  re-election 
for  him:  but  he  had  acted  nobly  for  his  country.  He 
very  soon  disposed  of  Pickering  and  McHenry,  forcing 
them  to  resign. 

There  had  been  seditious  opposition  to  the  laws  in 
Eastern  Pennsylvania;  John  Fries  was  twice  tried  for 
treason,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  death:  Picker- 
ing and  other  leaders  in  the  party  were  anxious  to  have 
the  exemplary  penalty  inflicted;  but  the  president  par- 
doned Fries  and  his  associates,  greatly  to  the  disgust  of 
the  extremists.  Fries  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 


JOHN  ADAMS.  in 

only  man  ever  convicted  of  treason  in  the  United  States. 

Like  most  presidents,  John  Adams  desired  re-election. 
Jefferson  was  a  very  radical  theorist;  but  with  the  errors 
and  the  successes  of  the  twelve  years  before  him,  he  was 
shrewd  enough  to  drop  his  anarchic  theories,  his  nullify- 
ing doctrines,  his  overstrained  literal  interpretations  of 
theconconstitution  and  to  make  himself  a  practical  ruler. 
But  what  he  had  said  and  done  had  made  the  conservative 
portion  of  the  community  afraid  of  him.  Adams  had  a 
very  respectable  vote,  sixty-five  out  of  the  1 38  votes,  Jef- 
ferson having  seventy-three:  a  change  of  five  votes  would 
have  elected  Adams.  But  the  Federal  party  was  hope- 
lessly disorganized. 

On  the  twentieth  of  January,  1801,  Ellsworth  hav- 
ing resigned  the  position  of  Chief  Justice,  and  Jay 
having  declined  the  place,  Adams  had  appointed  his 
Secretary  of  State,  John  Marshall,  to  be  Chief  Jus- 
tice. Had  Adams  done  nothing  else  for  his  coun- 
try, this  selection  of  the  greatest  and  most  influen- 
tial jurist  America  has  known  should  be  gratefully  re- 
membered. Federalist  interpretations,  giving  strength 
and  dignity  to  the  national  government,  flowed  from 
Marshall's  brain  and  pen,  years  after  the  bodies  of  Ad- 
ams and  Jefferson  were  dust,  and  the  old  party  contests 
had  been  merged  in  the  "Era  of  Good  Feeling." 

Federalist  leaders  in  Congress  lent  themselves  to  the 
silly  and  wicked  scheme  of  electing  Burr  instead  of  Jef- 
ferson, since  the  electoral  vote  was  tied  between  them. 
As  they  had  been  friends  during  the  canvass,  Jefferson 
sought  Adams  to  ask  his  favorable  influence.  Adams 


U2  JOHN  ADAMS. 

was  feeling  sore  over  his  defeat,  and  instead  of  saying 
"yes,"  began  to  ask  Jefferson  to  pledge  himself  to  cer- 
tain measures.  Of  course  he  rightly  and  proudly  re- 
fused, and  the  two  parted  in  anger.  Adams  is  censura- 
ble for  his  irritable  conduct  of  the  last  weeks  of  his  term. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  inauguration  day,  with 
heart  saddened  by  the  death  of  his  son  Charles,  he  was 
so  discourteous  as  to  leave  the  city  of  Washington 
and  avoid  the  inauguration  of  his  rival,  long  his 
friend.  Not  long  before  he  had  said  to  Jefferson  in  all 
good  humor  and  sincerity,  "If  you  beat  me  in  the  Presi- 
dency, I  will  be  as  faithful  a  subject  as  any  you  will 
have." 

At  home  in  Quincy  the  tired  and  sad  old  man  amused 
himself  with  reading  and  study,  and  correspondence. 
He  began  an  autobiography,  which  he  left  incomplete. 
This  and  his  letters  often  make  severe  judgments  upon 
others.  He  could  not  observe  the  maxim  which  gives 
title  to  one  of  Reade's  novels,  "Put  Yourself  in  his 
Place."  The  very  intensity  and  earnestness  that  had 
made  him  so  valuable  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  career 
appear  as  stubborn  impracticability  in  the  later.  He 
was  gloomy,  now  that  he  could  no  longer  enjoy  the  bat- 
tle of  life. 

He  saw  with  pleasure  the  advancement  of  his  son,  and 
his  election  to  the  Presidency.  When  he  was  eighty- 
five  years  old  his  townsmen  elected  him  to  a  State  con- 
vention for  the  revision  of  the  constitution.  The  con- 
vention elected  him  its  president;  but  the  infirmities  of 
age  compelled  him  to  decline  the  post.  He  was  a  presi- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  113 

dential  elector  in  1820,  and  voted  for  Monroe.  His  dear 
wife  was  taken  from  him  by  a  fever,  Oct.  28th,  1818, 
when  he  was  eighty-three  years  old;  but  he  lived  on  un- 
til he  was  well 
along  in  his 
ninety  first  year. 
It  is  pleasant  to 
record  that  his 
friendship  with 
Jefferson  was 
renewed.  Jef- 
ferson made  ad- 
vances through 
Mrs.  A  dams;  but 
his  proud  spirit 
was  not  ap- 
peased. Dr.Rush 
became  the  me- 
dium of  a  rec- 
onciliation. 

They  had 
come,  indeed^ 
upon  common 
ground.  The  ad- 
ministration of  Jefferson  had  from  the  first  deserted  his 
ultraisms.  He  was  glad  to  use  the  power  Federalism  had 
framed.  Swearing  to  observe  the  constitution,  he  be- 
lieved that  he  had  broken  its  plain  sense  by  annexing 
the  Louisiana  Territory,  a  measure  such  as  would  have 
cost  Adams  no  questioning. 


John  Quincy  Adams 

Son  of  John  Adams,  and  Sixth  President  of  the 
United  States     Born  1767.     Died  1S48. 


114  JOHN    ADAMS. 

So  the  two  old  men,  friends  again,  approached  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  great  act  in  which  they  had  so  grandly 
shared.  It  proved  the  last  day  for  each  of  them.  Adams's 
mind  was  clear  to  the  end.  He  died  at  sunset,  Tuesday, 
July  4th,  1826.  It  is  said  that  his  last  words  were,  "Jef- 
ferson still  survives."  He  was  wrong:  Jefferson  had  died 
in  the  morning  of  that  day. 

John  Adams's  remains  were  buried  in  a  tomb  under 
the  portico  of  the  First  Congregational  (Unitarian)  Church 
of  Quincy.  In  the  body  of  the  church,  by  the  side  of  the 
pulpit,  at  the  preacher's  right,  is  a  marble  tablet,  seven  feet 
by  four,  on  which  is  chiselled  a  memorial  of  the  states- 
man and  of  his  wife.  It  is  surmounted  by  Greenough's  bust 
of  the  ex-president.  Under  that  the  first  line  is  his  fa- 
vorite motto,  "Libert  at  cm,  amicitiam,  fidcm,  retincbis"- 
Liberty,  friendship,  faith,  thou  wilt  hold  fast.  Overlook- 
ing his  personal  defects,  the  judgment  of  the  ages  will  pro- 
nounce him  in  service  to  his  country  second  only  to  Wash- 
ington. 


JOHN  ADAMS. 

(1735-1826) 

BY  G.  MERCER  ADAM.* 

OF  the  patriot  founders  of  the  American  Republic  no  one, 
if  we  except  the  "Father  of  his  Country,"  is  more  con- 
spicuous in  the  group  than  John  Adams,  second  President  of 
the  United  States  and  one  of  the  chief  promoters  of  Inde- 
pendence. Though  of  irascible  mood  and  pugnacious,  com- 
bative temper,  he  was  a  zealous  friend  of  and  devoted  to  his 
country,  and,  in  spite  of  his  characteristic  vehemence,  chol- 
eric disposition,  and  impatience  of  restraint,  was  a  most 
popular,  and,  in  many  respects,  lovable  man,  an  experi- 
enced diplomat,  and  able  chief  magistrate  of  the  young 
nation.  His  intelligent  interest  in  public  affairs  was  re- 
markable, as  is  shown  by  his  extensive  writings,  as  well  as 
by  the  notable  part  he  took  in  the  important  events  of  his 
time.  His  virile  character  and  commanding,  masterful  ways 
made  him  many  enemies,  and  caused  him  to  be  distrustful 
even  of  colleagues  such  as  Franklin  and  of  political  as- 
sociates such  as  Hamilton  and  Jefferson;  while  his  envy 
of  such  a  hero  as  Washington,  and  his  impatience  with 
numberless  people  to  whom  a  more  politic  manner  might 
have  made  them  alike  helpful  to  him  and  his  country,  were 


•Historian.  Biographer,  and  Essayist.  Authorof  a  "Precis  of  English  History." 
•  "Continuation  of  Grecian  History."  etc.,  and  (or  many  jears  Editor  of  Self- 
Colt  are  IfAgatint.— The  Publishers. 


Il6  JOHN    ADAMS. 

traits  in  the  man  that  detract  from  his  reputation  and  lessen 
the  high  estimate  that  to-day  might  otherwise  be  placed 
upon  him.  In  spite  of  all  this,  and  of  the  vigor  of  his 
utterances,  his  censorious  mood,  and  the  self-opinionated 
manner  of  the  man,  John  Adams  was  an  ardent  and  un- 
compromising friend  of  the  young  Republic,  an  indefatigible 
and  sagacious  statesman,  and  a  staunch  and  ever  loyal  work- 
er for  the  wellbeing  and  advancement  of  his  country. 

The  Adams  family — a  notable  one  in  New  England — 
came  of  sound  Puritan  stock,  his  progenitors  being  farmers 
in  the  Massachusetts  colony  who  had  settled  at  Braintree 
(now  Quincy)  as  far  back  as  the  year  1636.  The  father 
of  John  Adams,  who  died  in  1/61,  when  his  illustrious 
son  was  twenty-five  years  of  age,  had  by  hard  work  and 
thrift  gathered  together  a  modest  estate,  and  was  able  to 
send  his  son  for  an  education  to  Harvard  College,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  1755,  with  a  fair  reputation  as  a 
scholar,  and  the  possession  of  good  gifts  as  a  public  speaker 
and  budding  orator.  When  he  passed  from  college,  young 
Adams  taught  school  for  a  time  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  his 
parents  meanwhile  desiring  him  to  study  for  the  ministry, 
though  he  himself  had  a  preference  for  the  law ;  and  finally 
took  to  that  as  a  profession.  For  it  he  read  assiduously 
such  text-books  in  legal  lore  as  were  then  available,  in  ad- 
dition to  post-graduate  courses  in  ethics,  philosophy,  and 
the  science  of  government.  He  also  kept  up  his  knowledge 
of  the  ancient  classics,  and  had  an  inward  longing  for  a  mil- 
itary career  or  that  of  a  political  orator,  with  an  eye,  the 
while,  on  town-meetings  and  local  agitations,  and,  above 
all,  on  the  threatening  political  aspects  of  the  time.  Mean- 


JOHN    ADAMS.  117 

while,  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  bar  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  ere  long  attained  prestige  and  popularity  in 
his  adopted  profession.  Moreover,  he  had  fallen  in  love 
with,  and  presently  married,  a  charming  and  most  estimable 
lady  of  high  social  position,  Abigail  Smith,  daughter  of  a 
clergyman  of  Weymouth,  Mass.,  and  of  his  worthy  wife, 
who  was  connected  with  the  Quincy  and  Norton  families 
— a  marriage  that  was  of  much  benefit  in  many  ways  to 
the  future  statesman  and  United  States  President,  and  a  con- 
stant solace  to  him  amid  the  distractions  of  his  laborious 
and  often  stormy  career.  This  happy  event  occurred  in 
1764,  the  year  before  the  imposition  of  the  obnoxious  Stamp 
Act,  against  which  John  Adams,  together  with  his  famous 
cousin,  Samuel  Adams,  stoutly  protested,  and  in  doing  so 
engaged  in  numerous  public  harangues,  besides  offering  a 
series  of  resolutions  hostile  to  the  measure,  and  espous- 
ing and  vigorously  upholding  the  popular  cause  against  the 
ill-advised  oppression  of  the  mother  land. 

In  assuming  this  attitude,  the  young  patriot  had  some 
years  earlier  (1761)  been  stirred  by  James  Otis'  indignant 
speech  in  the  State  House,  Boston,  in  opposition  to  the 
enforcement  of  the  Writs  of  Assistance — that  first  act  in 
the  pre-Revolutionary  era  against  legalized  tyranny  and 
encroachment  on  the  rights  of  the  Colonists  which  set 
fire  to  the  heart  of  the  people  and  incited  them  to  resistance 
and,  later  on,  to  armed  rebellion.  His  own  impulses  to  ally 
himself  with  the  patriot  party  were  by  this  speech  greatly 
promoted,  and  led  him,  among  other  things,  to  protest 
against  the  validity  of  the  Stamp  Act ;  though  he  was  toler- 
ant and  large-minded  enough,  even  to  his  own  hurt,  to 


Il8  JOHN    ADAMS. 

defend  as  counsel  the  soldiers  concerned  in  the  affray  known 
as  the  Boston  Massacre,  arguing  honestly  that  it  was  the 
public  prejudices  against  the  English  troops  that  had  led 
them  to  acts  of  bloodshed  and  violence.  For  this,  though 
it  brought  upon  him  some  unmerited  public  abuse,  Adams 
had  his  reward  in  his  successful  defense  of  the  soldiers; 
while  the  Tory  authorities  of  Boston  sought  to  decoy  him 
to  their  side,  by  the  bribe  of  offices  offered  him,  but  which 
he  patriotically  refused  to  accept.  The  act  of  justice  to  the 
British  soldiery,  however,  did  Adams  no  real  injury,  for 
we  presently  find  him  chosen  member  of  the  Revolutionary 
Congress  of  Massachusetts  and  a  delegate  to  the  first  Conti- 
nental Congress,  which  met  at  Philadelphia  in  September, 
1774.  At  this  era,  the  English  government  was  more  un- 
wisely bent  on  coercing  and  dragooning  the  Colonies ;  while 
the  latter  retaliated  by  many  hostile  acts,  including,  in  the 
previous  year  (1773),  the  throwing  overboard  from  the 
ships  in  Boston  harbor  of  the  cargoes  of  English  taxed 
tea.  At  this,  England  now  proceeded  to  greater  extremi- 
ties, by  practically  closing  the  port  of  Boston  to  commerce, 
and  by  enacting  that  persons  caught  engaging  in,  or  sus- 
pected of  engaging  in,  acts  hostile  to  the  Crown  in  the  Col- 
onies were  to  be  sent  for  trial  to  the  mother  country.  The 
appointment  of  General  Gage  as  governor  and  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  English  troops  in  Boston  was  also  deemed 
a  menace,  adding  to  the  inflamed  state  of  feeling,  already 
widely  prevalent,  against  the  military  and  the  partisans  of 
monarchy  in  the  country.  To  checkmate  these  encroach- 
ments and  offset  their  irritating  effect  upon  the  people, 
Congress,  besides  setting  forth  Colonial  grievances  in  a 


JOHN   ADAMS.  119 

Declaration  of  Rights  and  protesting  against  illegal  tax- 
ation, set  its  face  firmly  against  further  English  aggression, 
and,  by  the  passing  of  non-importation  acts  and  other 
measures,  showed  the  length  to  which  the  country  was 
likely  to  go  in  the  way  of  resistance — to  the  extent  even 
of  raising  a  military  force  to  take  the  field,  if  need  be,  against 
the  Crown. 

At  this  period  of  great  political  ferment,  John  Adams, 
who  had  by  this  time  made  a  home  for  himself  at  Boston, 
and  had  become  an  influential  man  at  the  bar  and  a  notable 
figure  in  the  circles  of  the  patriotic  party  in  Massachusetts, 
was  named  a  member  of  the  General  Congress,  to  meet 
at  Philadelphia.  Here  his  career  as  a  statesman  began, 
for  he  was  known  now  far  and  wide  as  an  able  publicist, 
as  well  as  an  honest,  courageous  patriot,  though  perhaps 
too  vehement  in  the  cause  he  had  espoused,  and,  like  his 
cousin,  Samuel  Adams,  at  times  indiscreet  in  his  public 
utterances.  In  the  first  Continental  Congress,  which  met 
in  September,  1774,  he  represented  Massachusetts  as  one  of 
its  delegates,  and,  as  we  have  hinted,  became  a  prominent 
member  of  the  body  and  one  of  its  chief  debaters.  He 
was  also  one  of  the  committee  that  framed  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  after  the  articles  of  Union  and  Confeder- 
ation had  been  promulgated,  and  strenuously  advocated  its 
adoption  in  an  eloquent  and  patriotic  speech.  In  the  sec- 
ond Continental  Congress,  which  met  in  May,  1775,  at  Phil- 
adelphia, he  proposed  Washington  as  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Continental  forces,  an  astute  act  on  the  part  of  John 
Adams,  for  besides  being  himself  eager  for  war  with  Eng- 
land, which  had  already  broken  out,  he  desired  to  knit  the 


120  JOHISI   ADAMS. 

Southern  and  the  Northern  portions  of  the  Confederacy  of 
the  States  together,  and  to  commend  a  Virginia  officer  to 
his  New  England  constituents.  In  moving  for  this  appoint- 
ment, Adams  run  a  certain  risk;  but  he  readily  took  it, 
much  to  the  chagrin  especially  of  John  Hancock,  president 
of  the  Congress,  who  desired  the  commander-in-chief's  post 
for  himself.  He,  however  carried  his  point,  with  his  ac- 
customed pugnacity  and  confidence;  and  Washington,  then 
forty-three,  took  command  of  the  nucleus  of  the  American 
army  assembled  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  a  few  days  after  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

Even  at  this  late  era,  the  Colonies  had  not  wholly  and 
unreservedly  broken  with  England,  in  spite  of  the  two 
Adamses,  who  were  clamoring  for  war.  Some  of  them  still 
feared  to  range  themselves  among  perverse  rebels  of  the 
Crown ;  while  not  a  few  public  men  clung  yet  to  hope  of 
reconciliation,  with  some  satisfactory  readjustment  of  the 
relations  between  the  motherland  and  the  Colonies.  Con- 
ciliation, however,  came  to  naught,  and  the  die  was  now 
cast — the  Colonies  setting  to  work,  under  Washington,  to 
augment  the  army  and  make  it  more  efficient;  while  John 
Adams  was  taking  active  steps  on  a  committee  of  naval 
affairs  to  organize  a  marine  corps  and  a  fleet  of  war  ves- 
sels, under  the  unfortunate  Esek  Hopkins,  and  Congress 
had  sanctioned  the  building  of  thirteen  frigates.  Adams, 
at  this  juncture,  was  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  Colonies, 
and  no  man  was  more  assiduous  and  helpful  on  commit- 
tees of  Congress;  while  by  his  labors,  among  other  meas- 
ures he  took  part  in,  in  drafting  the  Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion, which  made  it  easier  for  the  Colonies  to  borrow  money 


JOHN   ADAMS.  121 

abroad  as  well  as  enlist  sympathy  in  France  for  the  status 
of  Independence,  he  earnestly  and  patriotically  furthered 
the  cause  of  the  new  and  aspiring  nation.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  he  earned  the  title  of  "the  colossus  of  debate," 
applied  to  him  by  Jefferson  when  Adams  was  advocating 
the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  against  the 
argument  of  the  Conciliationists,  such  as  Jay  and  Dickinson. 
In  17/6,  Mr.  Adams  acted  as  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
\Yar,  as  well  as  served  on  as  many  other  Congressional 
committees ;  and,  a  little  later,  Massachusetts  elected  him 
chief-justice  of  the  State,  as  one  of  her  ablest  jurists.  The 
latter  office  he.  however,  did  not  accept,  the  calls  of  duty 
in  the  political  field  being  at  this  time  so  many  and  weighty 
upon  his  time  and  strength ;  though  early  in  1778  we  find 
him  setting  out  for  France,  with  his  son,  John  Quincy 
Adams  (afterwards,  like  his  father,  United  States  Presi- 
dent), having  accepted  the  post  of  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  France,  superseding  Silas  Deane,  who  had  not  given 
satisfaction  to  Congress  as  an  envoy  at  the  French  court. 
In  France,  at  this  time,  Mr.  Adams  did  not  stay  long,  as 
the  Colonies  were  already  represented  in  Paris  by  Franklin 
and  Arthur  Lee;  while  he  did  not  get  on  well  with  Frank- 
lin and  the  French  foreign  minister,  the  Count  de  Ver- 
gennes,  the  lat.er  of  whom  he  especially  distrusted,  find- 
ing him,  as  he  thought,  far  from  disinterested  in  his  pro- 
fessed friendship  for  America.  Returning  to  the  New 
World  in  1779,  he  was  chosen  delegate  to  the  Massachusetts' 
Constitutional  Convention,  but  from  the  latter  he  was  called 
away  once  more  to  proceed  to  Europe,  this  time  to  take 
part  in  the  expected  peace  treaty  with  England,  notwith- 


122  JOHN    ADAMS. 

standing  the  fact  that,  unlike  Franklin,  Jay,  and  Jeffer- 
son, he  had  little  of  the  art  of  the  diplomat,  and  was  too 
outspoken  in  his  distrust  of  the  French  alliance,  not  to 
speak  of  his  hostility  to  Vergennes,  Louis  XVTs  foreign 
minister.  Adams,  however,  possessed  the  confidence  of 
Congress,  which  body  had  at  this  time  dispatched  him 
abroad  as  special  envoy ;  but  England  was  not  yet  in  the 
humor  to  make  overtures  for  peace  with  the  Colonies,  and 
in  the  meantime  the  special  envoy  proceeded  (1780)  to  Hol- 
land, where,  besides  negotiating  a  treaty  of  commerce  with 
that  European  power,  he  also  secured  a  loan  to  the  Colo- 
nies of  $2,000,000  on  the  Amsterdam  money  market.  While 
abroad,  and  installed  as  minister  of  the  United  States  at 
The  Hague,  the  surrender  of  Cormvallis  at  Yorktown  oc- 
curred, and  this  finally  brought  England  to  her  senses  and 
paved  the  way  for  the  preliminaries  of  peace  between  the 
Colonies  and  the  English  motherland.  To  take  part  in  the 
peace  negotiations,  Adams  proceeded  to  Paris,  to  confer  with 
Franklin  and  Jay,  the  latter  of  whom  had  been  representing 
his  country  at  Madrid.  Here,  with  his  colleagues,  and  in 
spite  of  the  interference  from  Vergennes,  who  hated  Ad- 
ams, the  latter  was  able  to  secure  important  concessions 
in  the  treaty  with  England,  including,  besides  recognition  of 
American  independence,  those  relating  to  the  fisheries,  to 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  commercial  re- 
lations generally. 

The  definitive  peace  treaty  with  Great  Britian  was  signed 
at  Paris  September  3,  1783,  preceded  by  the  return  from 
America  of  the  French  allied  army,  as  well  as  by  the  Brit- 
ish forces,  and  followed,  in  November,  by  Washington's 


JOHN   ADAMS.  It) 

farewell  to  the  army  under  him  and  its  disbandment.  The 
independence  of  the  United  States  was  in  this  year  recog- 
nized by  Spain,  Russia,  Sweden,  and  Denmark;  and  the 
peace  treaty  with  the  mother  country  was  ratified  by  Con- 
gress in  January,  1784.  A  year  or  so  later,  Mr.  Adams 
was  appointed  U.  S.  minister  to  Great  Britian,  followed 
by  Jefferson's  commission  as  U.  S.  minister  to  France. 
Naturally,  Adams  had  no  subserviency  to  offer  to  the  Eng- 
lish Court,  while  he  was  too  blunt  and  outspoken  to  make 
pleasant  his  English  residence,  which  extended  for  a  period 
of  nearly  three  years.  While  there,  he  wrote  and  issued 
(in  1787)  his  "Defense  of  the  American  Constitution," 
on  the  nature  and  character  embodied  in  the  Constitution 
adopted  during  the  Revolution,  a  work  which  was  most 
timely  in  its  appearing,  in  view  of  the  sittings  of  the  Phil- 
adelphia Convention  to  frame  a  Federal  Constitution  for 
the  United  States.  Adams'  career  in  England  cannot  be 
called  a  success,  though  he  made  no  serious  mistakes,  be- 
yond irritation  with  his  surroundings  and  annoyance  at 
the  lack  of  consideration  shown  him  by  the  English  Court ; 
while  he  had  few  social  successes  such  as  were  enjoyed  by 
Franklin  at  the  French  capital.  Wearying  over  his  expat- 
riation and  embittered  against  England,  he  sent  across  the 
sea  his  resignation,  and  in  1788  returned  to  America. 

That  Adams  had  not  lost  favor  in  his  own  country  by 
his  acts  and  attitude  abroad  as  a  diplomat,  is -proved  by  his 
nomination  on  the  ticket  with  Washington  for  the  high 
office  of  President,  according  to  the  system  of  election 
which  at  that  time  prevailed.  Washington,  as  all  know, 
obtained  the  chief  prize,  by  a  vote,  in  1789,  of  sixty-nine 


124  JOHN    ADAMS. 

to  thirty-four  for  Adams,  who  was  thus  elected  to  the  minor 
office.  In  1793,  he  retained  the  same  post  in  Washington's 
second  term,  and  on  the  latter's  declining  to  serve  for  a  third 
term,  Adams  then  (1797)  became  President,  with  Jefferson 
as  Yice-President.  For  the  office  of  Yice-President,  Ad- 
ams, as  we  know,  cared  little,  since  it  afforded  little  scope 
for  his  abilities ;  while  his  temper  was  hardly  such  as  to 
make  him  an  ideal  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate.  More- 
over, the  political  parties  began  now  to  be  rent  asunder  by 
animosities  and  quarrels  among  their  leaders,  and  by  a 
sharper  line  than  had  hitherto  divided  the  Federalists  and 
the  Republican-Democrats.  This  not  only  embittered  pub- 
lic life  for  those  engaged  in  it,  but  also  embittered  the  re- 
lations between  the  party  chiefs — Hamilton,  Jay,  and  Ad- 
ams on  the  side  of  the  Federalists,  and  those  of  the  more 
popular  party  under  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  others.  Divis- 
ions also  led  to  ruptures  personally  among  the  Federalists 
themselves,  which  alienated  Hamilton  from  Adams,  and 
ultimately  led  to  the  disintegration  of  the  old  aristocratic 
party. 

At  this  formative  period  of  the  young  nation,  this  alien- 
ation and  friction  among  representative  men  naturally  had 
a  sinister  effect,  for  it  widened  the  breach  between  the 
classes,  and  socially  was  thus  to  be  deplored.  This,  as 
it  happened,  was  disadvantageous  to  Adams'  popularity, 
and  perhaps  led  him,  yeoman  though  he  was  by  birth  and 
upbringing,  to  become  more  aristocratic  and  fond  of  state 
and  its  trappings  in  office,  while  rendering  him  less  accept- 
able to  the  people.  But  the  party  to  which  Adams  belong- 
ed must  itself  bear  some  of  the  blame  of  this,  for  the  Fed- 


JOHN    ADAMS.  125 

eralists  chiefly  represented  the  intellectual  as  well  as  the 
moneyed  and  property  people,  together  with  the  bulk  of  the 
army  officers,  and  those  who  had  a  stake  in  'the  country 
and  were  in  favor  of  a  centralized  Federal  government 
and  a  strong  national  administration.  This  was  especially 
shown  during  Washington's  second  term,  and  particularly 
during  the  four  years  of  President  Adams'  own  rule.  In 
the  opposing,  or  people's,  party  were  the  laboring  and  many 
of  the  trading  classes,  who,  not  only  were  united  among 
their  leaders,  but,  of  course,  had  more  faith  than  the  Fed- 
eralists had  or  showed  in  Democratic  rule  and  the  well- 
being  of  the  State  under  a  democracy.  The  French  Revo- 
lution, which  had  then  broken  out,  had  also  some  influence 
in  widening  the  gulf  between  the  two  parties,  Jefferson  and 
his  colleagues  seeing  that  the  state  of  France  at  the  time 
was  but  the  logical  outcome  of  the  opposition  of  the  prole- 
tariat to  autocratic  rule,  and  the  assertion  of  principles 
akin  to  those  embodied  in  the  American  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. 

When  Washington,  in  1793,  was  elected  for  a  second 
term,  John  Adams,  as  we  have  seen,  was  re-elected  by  a 
large  vote  to  the  Vice-Presidency.  At  this  era  the  country 
was  internally  disturbed  by  the  strife  and  intrigues  of  the 
political  parties,  and  externally  concerned  over  the  out- 
break of  revolution  in  France,  and  by  the  relations  between 
the  two  nations.  In  January  Louis  XVI  had  been  ex- 
ecuted, and  England  and  her  Continental  allies  declared 
war  against  revolutionary  France.  The  Reign  of  Terror 
ensued,  and  in  1795  came  the  rule  of  the  French  Direct- 
ory and  the  rise  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  was  then 


126  JOHN    ADAMS. 

engaged  in  his  great  campaign  in  Italy.  Adams  was  anti- 
Gallican  in  his  sympathies,  and  when  the  French  Direct- 
ory threatened  this  country  with  war,  he  did  much,  as  we 
shall  see,  to  avert  it,  in  spite  of  the  excitement  over  French 
interference  with  American  maritime  interests  and  the  desire 
of  the  Republicans  to  precipitate  strife,  so  that  they  might 
embarrass  England  whom  they  hated,  and  was  then  at  war 
with  France.  Meanwhile,  Washington  had,  in  1796,  come 
to  the  end  of  his  second  term  of  office,  and  the  election  of 
John  Adams  to  the  Presidency  followed,  his  competitor 
being  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  received  68  electoral  votes, 
against  Adams'  71  votes.  Jefferson  then  became  Vice- 
President.  On  Adams'  assumption  of  office,  he  pursued 
the  foreign  policy  of  his  predecessor,  Washington,  in  main- 
taining neutrality  and  non-interference  in  the  war  between 
France  and  England  and  her  allies.  *  In  this  course  he 
showed  much  wisdom,  though  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
government  at  the  time  were  full  of  menace,  and  it  was  dif- 
ficult to  repress  public  feeling  for  war.  Though  this  at- 
titude of  the  President  gave  not  a  little  offense  to  the  Fed- 
eralists, and,  indeed,  did  much  to  break  down  the  cohesion 
and  unity  of  the  Federal  party,  President  Adams  adhered 
to  his  peace  policy  and  named  three  envoys — Messrs.  Mar- 
shall, Pinckney,  and  Gerry — to  proceed  to  France  to  re- 
move the  sources  of  international  irritation  and  maintain 
peace  between  the  two  countries.  At  the  same  time  he 
patriotically  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of  preparing  the 
nation  for  the  alternative  of  war,  by  recommending  to  Con- 
gress'the  construction  of  a  navy  and  the  calling  out  of  an 
armed  force  of  16,000  men,  inducing  Washington  to  assume 


JOHN    ADAMS.  1*7 

his  old  post  of  commander-in-chief,  with  Hamilton  as  his 
chief  coadjutor,  whose  appointment  Adams  sanctioned  in 
spite  of  that  soldier-statesman's  political  hostility  to  the 
President. 

The  diplomatic  negotiations  with  Republican  France  came 
to  little,  for  the  Directory  was  then  very  mercenary  in  its 
views,  Talleyrand  even  going  so  far  as  to  demand  a  mon- 
etary tribute  from  the  United  States  to  secure  influence 
with  the  First  Consul,  an  insult  which  our  envoys  spiritedly 
resented  in  their  familiar,  indeed  memorable  words:  "Mil- 
lions for  defense,  but  not  a  cent  for  tribute!"  In  tl.is,  Ad- 
ams saw  but  the  old  design,  not  only  to  show  French  con- 
tempt for  the  new  born  American  nation,  but  the  hollowness 
of  her  professions  of  aid,  which  as  a  diplomat  in  France 
he  had  detected  in  Count  Vergennes — only  that  she  might 
embarass  and  annoy  England  in  her  attitude  towards  the 
American  Colonies.  The  President,  nevertheless,  was  able 
to  avert  hostilities  with  France  and  gain  what  diplomatic 
advantages  that  were  then  possible.  In  domestic  affairs,  he 
had  much,  moreover,  at  this  time  to  concern  and  worry  him, 
arising  out  of  the  political  ferments  and  war  excitements 
of  the  period.  Hamilton,  who  was  the  Federal  leader  and 
a  powerful  factor  in  governing,  gave  him  especially  much 
trouble  with  his  active  rivalries  added  to  the  intrigues  of 
other  Hamiltonians,  of  the  Federal  party  in  the  Cabinet. 
They  disliked  Adams'  vanity  and  ovenveaning  confidence, 
as  well  as  his  combative  moods  and  sturdy  independence. 
The  amount  of  vituperation  cast  upon  his  administration  was 
was  also  embittering  to  him,  as  he  knew  whence  it  proceed- 
ed, chiefly  from  Hamilton's  henchmen,  who  attacked  Ad- 


128  JOHN    ADAMS. 

ams  bitterly,  and,  among  other  things,  for  his  conciliatory 
attitude  towards  France.  The  breach  with  that  power  they 
hoped  to  widen,  rather  than  heal,  and  Adams,  in  thus 
thwarting  and  circumventing  them,  did  good  service  to  the 
country,  while  averting  war  and  all  the  evils  and  inflamed 
party  tumult  that  a  period  of  international  strife  would 
then  have  brought  in  i's  train. 

It  was  at  this  crisis  (1798)  that  the  Adams  administration 
committed  itself  to  the  passing  of  the  objectionable  Alien 
and  Sedition  Act,  which  the  government's  enemies  deemed 
hostile  to  the  unfettered  liberties  of  the  nation,  though  seem- 
inly  justified  as  necessary  measures  to  coerce  the  unruly 
foreign  element  in  this  country  at  the  period,  which  was  most 
outspoken  in  its  anti-American  utterances  and  in  the  free- 
dom with  which  it  aspersed  prominent  public  men.  Against 
the  libels  hurled  at  the  government,  the  Sedition  Act  was 
specially  directed,  for  it  made  it  a  crime  to  indulge  in  these 
diatribes  alike  among  the  aliens  and  among  those  ribald  and 
abusive  writers  in  the  Press  who  were  opposed  to  the  ad- 
ministration and  its  head.  The  Alien  Act  was  equally 
opposed,  as  it  gave  power  to  the  Administration  and  the 
President  (though  the  latter,  to  his  credit  it  ought  to  be  said, 
made  no  use  of  it)  to  arrest,  imprison,  and  even  export  and 
send  out  of  the  country,  any  alien  deemed  dangerous  to 
the  State,  or  who  might  engage  in  treasonable  or  secret 
machinations  against  it.  Both  Acts  were  to  be  limited  in 
their  duration — not  extending  beyond  two  years — but  they 
were  so  fiercely  and  stubbornly  resisted  that  they  were 
withdrawn,  as  being  unnecessary  and  too  sweeping  and 
severe.  Among  those  who  denounced  the  Acts  was  the 


JOHN    ADAMS.  119 

Swiss  member  of  Congress  from  Pennsylvania,  Albert  Gal- 
latin,  who  was  subsequently  known  as  an  able  American 
statesman,  diplomat,  and  financier.  One  or  two  of  the 
States  also  opposed  this  un-American  legislation — such  as 
Kentucky  and  Virginia — and  gave  rise  to  the  attitude  of 
Nullification,  or  to  talk  tending  in  that  direction,  together 
with  some  adverse  criticism  of  the  national  Constitution 
and  its  infringement  of  what  was  deemed  State-Rights. 
With  the  withdrawal  of  the  Acts  the  clamor  of  the  time 
against  them  subsided,  though,  as  already  hinted,  the  Fed- 
eralist party  was  soon  now  to  suffer  for  their  temporary 
enforcement — an  enforcement  which  the  disturbed  and  even 
dangerous  condition  of  the  country  at  the  period  seemed  to 
warrant,  little  as  we  to-day  can  appreciate  the  fact. 

In  1800,  Adams  again  became  the  Federalist  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  for  a  second  term  ;  but  his  re-election  was 
hotly  opposed  by  the  Republican-Democrats,  led  by  Jeffer- 
son, who  was  himself  a  candidate  at  this  era  for  the  exalted 
office ;  while  the  Federalist  vote  was  in  part  cast  against  Ad- 
ams, owing  to  internal  jealousies  and  dissensions  in  the  ranks 
of  the  party.  Hamilton,  moreover,  who  had  retired  from 
the  Secretaryship  of  the  Treasury  and  was  now  Commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army  (for  the  great  Washington  had  just 
died)  was  also  opposed  to  Adams'  second  term  in  office. 
The  result,  as  we  all  know,  proved  adverse  to  Adams,  and 
to  the  perpetuation  of  a  Federalist  administration.  With 
John  Adams,  C.  C.  Pinckney  was  nominated  by  the  Federal- 
ists, while  the  Republicans  put  forward  Jefferson  and  Aaron 
Burr.  In  spite  of  opposition  to  Adams  and  the  hopes  of  the 
Republicans  to  snatch  the  Presidency,  Adams  received  65 


130  JOHN    ADAMS. 

votes  to  Jefferson's  73 — failing  only  by  eight  votes  in  se- 
curing a  second  term.  The  Republican  vote  for  Jefferson 
and  Burr  tied  at  73,  and,  in  consequence,  the  election  was 
thrown  into  the  House,  with  the  result  th'at  Jefferson  be- 
came President,  and  Burr  obtained  the  Vice-Presidency. 
The  vote,  naturally,  was  a  disappointment  to  Adams,  while 
he  disliked  the  idea  of  the  country's  affairs  passing  from 
Federalist  to  Republican  hands.  This  led  him,  unwisely 
and  rather  ungenerously,  to  fill  up  every  vacant  office  with 
men  of  his  own  party,  though  one  office  he  filled  with  great 
discernment  and  good  judgment — that  of  the  Chief  Jus- 
ticeship, which  he  gave  to  the  able  jurist,  John  Marshall. 
Thus  passed  the  administration  of  John  Adams  and  his 
retirement  to  private  life  at  his  home  in  Quincy,  Mass.,  which 
he  was  notv  to  enjoy  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years.  The 
Federalists  had  earned  better  luck  than  now  was  theirs  in 
the  Government  passing  into  Republican  hands,  for  in 
Washington  and  Adams  it  had  given  two  able  and  honest 
men  to  the  Presidency  and,  admittedly,  had  governed  wisely 
and  effectively,  and  with  credit  to  the  young  nation.  So  de- 
serving in  many  respects  had  been  Adams'  own  rule  in  high 
office,  in  spite  of  his  vanity  and  vehemence  of  utterance, 
and  his  many  enmities,  that  his  rejection  for  a  second  term 
was  in  not  a  few  influential  instances  deplored.  At  his 
nomination,  Patrick  Henry,  among  other  statesmen  and  pub- 
licists of  the  time,  had  written  commending  his  services  in 
the  Presidential  office  in  these  words.  "Nothing,"  writes 
the  great  orator,  "short  of  an  absolute  necessity  could  in- 
duce me  to  withhold  my  little  aid  from  an  administration 
whose  ability,  patriotism,  and  virtue  deserve  the  gratitude 


JOHN    ADAMS.  13! 

and  reverence  of  all  their  fellow-citizens."  Of  Adams  and 
his  regime,  the  historian  and  lecturer,  Dr.  John  Lord,  has 
this  to  say  of  the  man  and  his  constructive  and  patriotic 
statesmanship:  "Some  excellent  writers  of  history  think 
that  the  glory  of  Adams  was  brightest  in  the  period  before 
he  became  President,  when  he  was  a  diplomatist — that  as  a 
President  he  made  mistakes,  and  had  no  marked  executive 
ability.  I  think  otherwise.  It  seems  to  me  that  his  special 
claims  to  the  gratitude  of  his  country  must  include  the  wis- 
dom of  his  administration  in  averting  an  intangling  war, 
and  guiding  the  ship  of  state  creditably  in  perplexing  dan- 
gers ;  that  in  most  of  his  acts,  while  filling  the  highest  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  people,  he  was  patient,  patriotic,  and  wise. 
We  forget  the  exceeding  difficulties  with  which  he  had  to 
contend,  and  the  virulence  of  his  enemies.  What  if  he  was 
personally  vain,  pompous,  irritable,  jealous,  stubborn,  and 
fond  of  power?  These  traits  did  not  swerve  him  from  the 
path  of  duty  and  honor,  nor  dim  the  lustre  of  his  patriotism, 
nor  make  him  blind  to  the  great  interests  of  the  country  as 
he  understood  them, — the  country  whose  independence  and 
organized  national  life  he  did  so  much  to  secure.  All  cavils 
are  wasted,  and  worse  than  wasted,  on  such  a  man.  His 
fame  will  shine  forevermore,  in  undimmed  lustre,  to  bless 
mankind.  Small  is  that  critic  who  sees  the  defects  but  has 
no  eye  for  the  splendor  of  a  great  career!" 

Impatiently,  and  rather  sullenly,  we  fear,  Adams  left  the 
capital  precipitately,  and  before  the  inauguration  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  his  successor  in  the  Presidency.  At  his  New 
England  home,  which  he  loved,  he  lived  a  life  of  quiet  and 
studious  repose,  occupied  with  his  farm  and  in  its  agricul- 
tural affairs,  yet  still  taking  an  earnest  and  patriotic  in- 


I  32  JOHN    ADAMS. 

terest  in  the  wellbeing  and  prosperity  of  the  nation.  He 
had  an  interesting  family,  one  of  his  sons,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  he  lived  to  see,  as  he  had  himself  been,  President 
of  the  United  States.  His  wife,  a  remarkable  woman,  who 
had  long  been  his  companion  and  solace  throughout  a  varied 
and  troublous  career,  died  in  1818;  while  before  his  retire- 
ment from  the  presidency  he  had  lost  his  son,  Charles.  In 
retirement,  he  engaged  in  much  correspondence  and  wrote 
considerably,  in  the  way  of  memoirs  and  comments  on  „ 
public  affairs :  much  of  this  matter  was  subsequently  com- 
piled and  edited  by  his  grandson,  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
another  member  of  his  illustrious  name,  who  became  a 
statesman  and  diplomat,  and  who  also  edited  his  father's 
writings  and  correspondence.  Of  his  old-time  friends,  it 
is  pleasing  to  record  his  reconciliation,  and  after  the  rupture 
of  his  relations,  with  Jefferson,  and,  as  it  happened,  both 
men  lived  to  see  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  which  both  patriots  had  been  in- 
instrumental  in  preparing  and  passing.  Both  men  died  on 
the  same  day — July  4,  1826 — Jefferson  predeceasing  Adams 
by  but  a  few  hours.  The  demise  of  the  old  Revolutionary 
father,  John  Adams,  occurred  at  his  home  in  Quincy,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  his  ninety-first  year,  his  faculties  being  preserved 
him  to  the  end,  and  manifested  patrioticly  in  his  last  words 
— "Independence  forever!"  His  mortal  remains  found  a 
last  resting-place  neath  the  portico  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional (Unitarian)  Church  at  Quincy,  and  to  the  shrine 
come  to-day  many  footsteps  of  those  who  not  only  love  their 
country  and  its  early  heroes,  but  who  admire  the  nation's 
second  President,  and  desire  to  pay  loving  tribute  to  his 
memory. 


JOHN  ADAMS'  SPEECH  AS  COUNSEL  ON  THE  BOSTON  MASSACBE, 

IN  DEFENSE  OF  THE  BRITISH  SOLDIEDS  ACCUSED  of 

MUfiDER  IN  THE  BOSTON  WOT  OF  1770. 

May  it  Please  Your  Honor,  and  You,  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury: 

I    AM  for  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  and  shall  apologize  for 
it  only  in  the  words  of  the  Marquis  Beccaria:  "If  I  can 
but  be  the  instrument  of  preserving  one  life,  his  bless- 
ings and  tears  of  transport  shall  be  a  sufficient  consolation 
for  me  for  the  contempt  of  all  mankind." 

As  the  prisoners  stand  before  you  for  their  lives,  it  may 
be  proper  to  recollect  with  what  temper  the  law  requires  we 
should  proceed  to  this  trial.  The  form  of  proceeding  at  their 
arraignment  has  discovered  that  the  spirit  of  the  law  upon 
such  occasions  is  conformable  to  humanity,  to  common-sense 
and  feeling;  that  it  is  all  benignity  and  candor.  And  the 
trial  commences  with  the  prayer  of  the  court,  expressed  by 
the  clerk,  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  judges,  empires,  and 
worlds,  "God  send  you  a  good  deliverance/' 

We  find  in  the  rules  laid  down  by  the  greatest  English 
judges,  who  have  been  the  brightest  of  mankind:  We  are 
to  look  upon  it  as  more  beneficial  that  many  guilty  persons 
should  escape  unpunished  than  one  innocent  should  suffer. 
The  reason  is,  because  it  is  more  importance  to  the  com- 
munity that  innocence  should  be  protected  than  it  is  that 
guilt  should  be  punished;  for  guilt  and  crimes  are  so  fre- 
quent in  the  world  that  all  of  them  cannot  be  punished ;  and 
many  times  they  happen  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is  not  of 


134  JOHN    ADAMS. 

much  consequence  to  the  public  whether  they  are  punished 
or  not.  But  when  innocence  itself  is  brought  to  the  bar  and 
condemned,  especially  to  die,  the  subject  will  exclaim,  "It  is 
immaterial  to  me  whether  I  behave  well  or  ill,  for  virtue  it- 
self is  no  security."  And  if  such  a  sentiment  as  this  should 
take  place  in  the  mind  of  the  subject,  there  would  be  an  end 
to  all  security  whatsoever.  I  will  read  the  words  of  the  law 
itself. 

The  rules  I  shall  produce  to  you  from  Lord  Chief-Justice 
Hale,  whose  character  as  a  lawyer,  a  man  of  learning  and 
philosophy,  and  a  Christian,  will  be  disputed  by  nobody 
living;  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  characters  the  English 
nation  ever  produced.  His  words  are  these : 

"It  is  always  safer  to  err  in  acquitting  than  punishing, 
on  the  part  of  mercy  than  the  part  of  justice." 

Again,  he  says :  "It  is  always  safer  to  err  on  the  milder 
side,  the  side  of  mercy." 

"The  best  rule  in  doubtful  cases  is  rather  to  incline  to 
acquittal  than  conviction." 

"Where  you  are  doubtful,  never  act ;  that  is,  if  you  doubt 
of  the  prisoner's  guilt,  never  declare  him  guilty." 

This  is  always  the  rule,  especially  in  cases  of  life.  An- 
other rule  from  the  same  author,  says: 

"In  some  cases  presumptive  evidences  go  far  to  prove 
a  person  guilty,  though  there  is  no  express  proof  of  the  fact 
to  be  committed  by  him;  but  then  it  must  be  very  warily 
expressed  for  it  is  better  five  guilty  persons  should  escape 
unpunished  than  one  innocent  person  should  die." 

The  next  authority  shall  be  from  another  judge  of  equal 
character,  considering  the  age  wherein  he  lived;  that  is 


JOHN    ADAMS.  135 

Chancellor  Fortescue,  in  "Praise  of  the  Laws  of  England." 

This  is  a  very  ancient  writer  on  the  English  law.  His 
words  are: 

"Indeed,  one  would  rather,  much  rather,  that  twenty 
guilty  persons  escape  punishment  of  death,  than  one  inno- 
cent person  be  condemned  and  suffer  capitally." 

Lord  Chief-Justice  Hale  says: 

"It  is  better  five  guilty  persons  escape,  than  one  innocent 
person  suffer." 

Lord  Chancellor  Fortescue,  you  see,  carries  the  matter 
further,  and  says: 

"Indeed,  one  had  rather,  much  rather,  that  twenty  guilty 
persons  should  escape  than  one  innocent  person  suffer  capi- 
tally/' 

Indeed,  this  rule  is  not  peculiar  to  the  English  law ; 
there  never  was  a  system  of  laws  in  the  world  in  which 
this  rule  did  not  prevail.  It  prevailed  in  the  ancient  Ro- 
man law,  and,  which  is  more  remarkable,  it  prevails  in  the 
modern  Roman  law.  Even  the  judges  in  the  Courts  of  In- 
quisition, who  with  racks,  burnings,  and  scourges  examine 
criminals — even  there  they  preserve  it  as  a  maxim,  that  it 
is  better  the  guilty  should  escape  punishment  than  the  in- 
nocent suffer.  "Satius  esse  nocentem  absolvi  quam  inno- 
centem  damnari."  This  is  the  temper  we  ought  to  set  out 
with,  and  these  the  rules  we  are  to  be  governed  by.  And 
I  shall  take  it  for  granted,  as  a  first  principle,  that  the  eight 
prisoners  at  the  bar  had  better  be  all  acquitted,  though  we 
should  admit  them  all  to  be  guilty,  than  that  any  one  of 
them  should,  by  your  verdict,  be  found  guilty,  being  in- 
nocent. 


136  JOHN    ADAMS. 

I  shall  now  consider  the  several  divisions  of  law  under 
which  the  evidence  will  arrange  itself. 

The  action  now  before  you  is  homicide;  that  is,  the  kill- 
ing of  one  man  by  another.  The  law  calls  it  homicide ;  but 
it  is  not  criminal  in  all  cases  for  one  man  to  slay  another. 
Had  the  prisoners  been  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham  and  slain 
a  hundred  Frenchmen  apiece,  the  English  law  would  have 
considered  it  as  a  commendable  action,  virtuous  and  praise- 
worthy; so  that  every  instance  of  killing  a  man  is  not  a 
crime  in  the  eye  of  the  law.  There  are  many  other  in- 
stances which  I  cannot  enumerate — an  officer  that  executes 
a  person  under  sentence  of  death,  etc.  So  that,  gentlemen, 
every  instance  of  one  man's  killing  another  is  not  a  crime, 
much  less  a  crime  to  be  punished  with  death.  But  to  de- 
scend to  more  particulars. 

The  law  divides  homicide  into  three  branches ;  the  first 
is  "justifiable,"  the  second  ''excusable,"  and  the  third  "feloni- 
ous." Felonious  homicide  is  subdivided  into  two  branches ; 
the  first  is  murder,  which  is  killing  with  malice  afore- 
thought ;  the  second  is  manslaughter,  which  is  killing  a 
man  on  a  sudden  provocation.  Here,  gentlemen,  are  four 
sorts  of  homicide ;  and  you  are  to  consider  whether  all  the 
evidence  amounts  to  the  first,  second,  third,  or  fourth  of 
these  heads.  The  fact  was  the  slaying  five  unhappy  per- 
sons that  night.  You  are  to  consider  whether  it  was  justi- 
fiable, excusable,  or  felonious;  and  if  felonious,  whether  it 
was  murder  or  manslaughter.  One  of  these  four  it  must  be. 
You  need  not  divide  your  attention  to  any  more  particulars. 
I  shall,  however,  before  I  come  to  the  evidence,  show  you 


JOHN    ADAMS.  137 

several  authorities  which  will  assist  you  and  me  in  contem- 
plating the  evidence  before  us. 

I  shall  begin  with  justifiable  homicide.  If  an  officer, 
a  sheriff,  execute  a  man  on  the  gallows,  draw  and  quarter 
him,  as  in  case  of  high  treason,  and  cut  off  his  head,  this  is 
justifiable  homicide.  It  is  his  duty.  So  also,  gentlemen, 
the  law  has  planted  fences  and  barriers  around  every  indi- 
vidual ;  it  is  a  castle  round  every  man's  person,  as  well  as 
his  house.  As  the  love  of  God  and  our  neighbor  compre- 
hends the  whole  duty  of  man,  so  self-love  and  social  com- 
prehend all  the  duties  we  owe  to  mankind ;  and  the  first 
branch  is  self-love,  which  is  not  only  our  indisputable  right, 
but  our  clearest  duty.  By  the  laws  of  nature,  this  is  inter- 
woven in  the  heart  of  every  individual.  God  Almighty, 
whose  law  we  cannot  alter,  has  implanted  it  there,  and  we 
can  annihilate  ourselves  as  easily  as  root  out  this  affection 
for  ourselves.  It  is  the  first  and  strongest  principle  in  our 
nature.  Justice  Blackstone  calls  it  "The  primary  canon 
in  the  law  of  nature."  That  precept  of  our  holy  religion 
which  commands  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves  does 
not  command  us  to  love  our  neighbor  better  than  ourselves, 
or  so  well.  No  Christian  divine  has  given  this  interpreta- 
tion. The  precept  enjoins  that  our  benevolence  to  our  fel- 
low-men should  be  as  real1  and  sincere  as  our  affection  to 
ourselves,  not  that  it  should  be  as  great  in  degree.  A  man 
is  authorized,  therefore,  by  common-sense  and  the  laws  of 
England,  as  well  as  those  of  nature,  to  love  himself  better 
than  his  fellow-subject.  If  two  persons  are  cast  away  at 
sea,  and  get  on  a  plank  (a  case  put  by  Sir  Francis  Bacon), 
and  the  plank  is  insufficient  to  hold  them  both,  the  one  has 


!jg  JOHN    ADAMS. 

a  right  to  push  the  other  off  to  save  himself.  The  rules  of 
the  common  law,  therefore,  which  authorize  a  man  to  pre- 
serve his  own  life  at  the  expense  of  another's,  are  not  con- 
tradicted by  any  divine  or  moral  law.  We  talk  of  liberty 
and  property,  but  if  we  cut  up  the  law  of  self-defense,  we 
cut  up  the  foundations  of  both ;  and  if  we  give  up  this,  the 
rest  is  of  very  little  value,  and  therefore  this  principle  must 
be  strictly  attended  to;  for  whatsoever  the  law  pronounces 
in  the  case  of  these  eight  soldiers  will  be  the  law  to  other 
persons  and  other  ages.  All  the  persons  that  have  slain 
mankind  in  this  country  from  the  beginning  to  this  day 
had  better  have  been  acquitted  than  that  a  wrong  rule  and 
precedent  should  be  established. 

I  shall  now  read  to  you  a  few  authorities  on  this  subject 
of  self-defense.  Foster  (in  the  case  of  justifiable  self-de- 
fense) says : 

"The  injured  party  may  repel  force  with  force  in  de- 
fence of  person,  habitation,  or  property,  against  one  who 
manifestly  intendeth  and  endeavoreth  with  violence  or  sur- 
prise to  commit  a  known  felony  upon  either.  In  these  cases 
he  is  not  obliged  to  retreat,  but  may  pursue  his  adversary 
till  he  finds  himself  out  of  danger;  and  if  in  a  conflict 
between  them  he  happeneth  to  kill,  such  killing  is  justi- 
fiable." 

I  must  entreat  you  to  consider  the  words  of  this  author- 
ity. The  injured  person  may  repel  force  by  force  against 
any  who  endeavoreth  to  commit  any  kind  of  felony  on  him 
or  his.  Here  the  rule  is,  I  have  a  right  to  stand  on  my 
own  defence,  if  you  intend  to  commit  felony.  If  any  of  the 
persons  made  an  attack  on  these  soldiers,  with  an  inten- 


JOHN    ADAMS.  §39 

tion  to  rob  them,  if  it  was  but  to  take  their  hats  feloniously, 
they  had  a  right  to  kill  them  on  the  spot,  and  had  no  busi- 
ness to  retreat.  If  a  robber  meet  me  in  the  street  and 
command  me  to  surrender  my  purse,  I  have  a  right  to  kill 
him  without  asking  any  questions.  If  a  person  commit  a 
bare  assault  on  me,  this  will  not  justify  killing ;  but  if  he  as- 
sault me  in  such  a  manner  as  to  discover  an  intention  to  kill 
me,  I  have  a  right  to  destroy  him,  that  I  may  put  it  out  of 
his  power  to  kill  me.  In  the  case  you  will  have  to  consider, 
I  do  not  know  there  was  any  attempt  to  steal  from  these  per- 
sons ;  however,  there  were  some  persons  concerned  who 
would,  probably  enough,  have  stolen,  if  there  had  been  any- 
thing to  steal,  and  many  were  there  who  had  no  such  dispo- 
sition. But  this  is  not  the  point  we  aim  at.  The  question  is, 
Are  you  satisfied  the  people  made  the  attack  in  order  to  kill 
the  soldiers?  If  you  are  satisfied  that  the  people,  whoever 
they  were,  made  that  assault  with  a  design  to  kill  or  maim 
the  soldiers,  this  was  such  an  assault  as  will  justify  the  sold- 
iers killing  in  their  own  defence.  Further,  it  seems  to  me, 
we  may  make  another  question,  whether  you  are  satisfied 
that  their  real  intention  was  to  kill  or  maim,  or  not?  If  any 
reasonable  man  in  the  situation  of  one  of  these  soldiers 
would  have  had  reason  to  believe  in  the  time  of  it,  that 
the  people  came  with  an  intention  to  kill  him,  whether 
you  have  this  satisfaction  now  or  not  in  your  own  minds, 
they  were  justifiable,  at  least  excusable,  in  firing.  You 
and  I  may  be  suspicious  that  the  people  who  made  this 
assault  on  the  soldiers  did  it  to  put  them  to  flight,  on  pur- 
pose that  they  might  go  exulting  about  the  town  afterward 
in  triumph ;  but  this  will  not  do.  You  must  place  your- 


140  JOHN    ADAMS. 

selves  in  the  situation  of  Weems  and  Killroy — consider 
yourselves  as  knowing  that  the  prejudice  of  the  world 
about  you  thought  you  came  to  dragoon  them  into  obe- 
dience, to  statutes,  instructions,  mandates,  and  edicts, 
which  they  thoroughly  detested — that  many  of  these 
people  were  thoughtless  and  inconsiderate,  old  and  young, 
sailors  and  landsmen,  negroes  and  mulattoes — that  they 
the  soldiers,  had  no  friends  about  them,  the  rest  were  in 
opposition  to  them ;  with  all  the  bells  ringing  to  call  the 
town  together  to  assist  the  people  in  King  Street,  for  they 
knew  by  that  time  that  there  was  no  fire ;  the  people  shout-  - 
ing,  huzzaing,  and  making  the  mob  whistle,  as  they  call  it, 
which,  when  a  boy  makes  it  in  the  street  is  no  formidable 
thing,  but  when  made  by  a  multitude  is  a  most  hideous 
shriek,  almost  as  terrible  as  an  Indian  yell ;  the  people 
crying,  "Kill  them,  kill  them.  Knock  them  over,"  heav- 
ing snowballs,  oyster  shells,  clubs,  white-birch  sticks  three 
inches  and  a  half  in  diameter;  consider  yourselves  in  this 
situation,  and  then  judge  whether  a  reasonable  man  in  the 
soldiers'  situation  would  not  have  concluded  they  were 
going  to  kill  him.  I  believe  if  I  were  to  reverse  the  scene 
I  should  bring  it  home  to  our  own  bosoms.  Sup- 
pose Colonel  [Marshall  when  he  came  out  of  his  own  door 
and  saw  these  grenadiers  coming  down  with  swords,  etc., 
had  thought  it  proper  to  have  appointed  a  military  watch ; 
suppose  he  had  assembled  Gray  and  Attucks  that  were 
killed,  or  any  other  person  in  town,  and  appointed  them 
in  that  situation  as  a  military  watch,  and  there  had  come 
from  Murray's  barracks  thirty  or  forty  soldiers  with  no 
other  arms  than  snowballs,  cakes  of  ice,  oyster  shells,  cin- 


JOHN    ADAMS.  14! 

ders,  and  clubs,  and  attacked  this  military  watch  in  this 
manner,  what  do  you  suppose  would  have  been  the  feel- 
ings and  reasonings  of  any  of  our  householders?  I  con- 
fess, I  believe  they  would  not  have  borne  one-half  of  what 
the  witneses  have  sworn  the  soldiers  bore,  till  they  had 
shot  down  as  many  as  were  necessary  to  intimidate  and 
disperse  the  rest ;  because  the  law  does  not  oblige  us  to 
bear  insults  to  the  danger  of  our  lives,  to  stand  still  with 
such  a  number  of  people  around  us,  throwing  such  things 
at  us,  and  threatening  our  lives,  until  we  are  disabled  to 
defend  ourselves. 

Foster:  "Where  a  known  felony  is  attempted  upon 
the  person,  be  it  to  rob  or  murder,  here  the  party  assaulted 
may  repel  force  with  force,  and  even  his  own  servant,  then 
attendant  on  him,  or  any  other  person  present,  may  interpose 
for  preventing  mischief,  and  if  death  ensue,  the  party  so  in- 
terposing will  be  justified.  In  this  case  nature  and  social 
duty  co-operate." 

Hawkins,  P.  C,  states :  "Yet  it  seems  that  a  private  per- 
son, a  fortiori,  an  officer  of  justice,  who  happens  unavoid- 
ably to  kill  another  in  endeavoring  to  defend  himself  from 
or  suppress  dangerous  rioters,  may  justify  the  fact  inasmuch 
as  he  only  does  his  duty  in  aid  of  the  public  justice." 

"And  I  can  see  no  reason  why  a  person,  who,  without 
provocation,  is  assaulted  by  another  in  any  place  whatso- 
ever, in  such  a  manner  as  plainly  shows  an  attempt  to  mur- 
der him,  as  by  discharging  a  pistol,  or  pushing  at  him  a 
drawn  sword,  etc.,  may  not  justify  killing  such  an  assail- 
ant, as  much  as  if  he  had  attempted  to  rob  him.  For 


142  JOHN    ADAMS. 

is  not  he  who  attempts  to  murder  me  more  injurious  than 
he  who  barely  attempts  to  rob  me?  And  can  it  be  more  jus- 
tifiable to  fight  for  my  goods  than  for  my  life? 

And  it  is  not  only  highly  agreeable  to  reason  that  a  man 
in  such  circumstances  may  lawfully  kill  another,  but  it 
seems  also  to  be  confirmed  by  the  general  tenor  of  our 
books,  which,  speaking  of  homicide  se  dcfendo,  suppose  it 
done  in  some  quarrel  or  affray. 

Hawkins,  "And  so,  perhaps,  the  killing  of  dangerous 
rioters  may  be  justified  by  any  private  persons,  who  can- 
not otherwise  suppress  them  or  defend  themselves  from 
them,  inasmuch  as  every  private  person  seems  to  be  au- 
thorized by  the  law  to  arm  himself  for  the  purpose  afore- 
said." 

Here  every  private  person  is  authorized  to  arm  himself; 
and  on  the  strength  of  this  authority  I  do  not  deny  the 
inhabitants  had  a  right  to  arm  themselves  at  that  time  for 
their  defence,  not  for  offence.  That  distinction  is  material, 
and  must  be  attended  to. 

Hawkins:  "And  not  only  he  who  on  an  assault  re- 
treats to  the  wall,  or  some  such  strait,  beyond  which  he 
can  go  no  further  before  he  kills  the  other,  is  judged  by  the 
law  to  act  upon  unavoidable  necessity;  but  also  he  who 
being  assaulted  in  such  a  manner  and  in  such  a  place  that 
he  cannot  go  back  without  manifestly  endangering  his  life, 
kills  the  other  without  retreating  at  all." 


JOHN    ADAMS.  143 

"And  an  officer  who  kills  one  that  insults  him  in  the 
execution  of  his  office,  and  where  a  private  person  that 
kills  one  who  feloniously  assaults  him  in  the  highway,  may 
justify  the  fact  without  ever  giving  back  at  all." 

There  is  no  occasion  for  the  magistrate  to  read  the  Riot 
Act.  In  the  case  before  you,  I  suppose  you  will  be  satisfied 
when  you  come  to  examine  the  witnesses  and  compare  it 
with  the  rules  of  the  common  law,  abstracted  from  all 
mutiny  acts  and  articles  of  war,  that  these  soldiers  were 
in  such  a  position  that  they  could  not  help  themselves. 
People  were  coming  from  Royal  Exchange  Lane,  and  other 
parts  of  the  town,  with  clubs  and  cordwood  sticks;  the 
soldiers  were  planted  by  the  wall  of  the  Custom  House; 
they  could  not  retreat ;  they  were  surrounded  on  all  sides, 
for  there  were  people  behind  them  as  well  as  before  them ; 
there  were  a  number  of  people  in  the  Royal  Exchange 
Lane;  the  soldiers  were  so  near  the  Custom  House  that 
they  could  not  retreat,  unless  they  had  gone  into  the  brick 
wall  of  it.  I  shall  show  you  presently  that  all  the  party 
concerned  in  this  unlawful  design  were  guilty  of  what  any 
one  of  them  did ;  if  anybody  threw  a  snowball  it  was  the 
act  of  the  whole  party;  if  any  struck  with  a  club  or  threw 
a  club,  and  the  club  had  killed  anybody,  the  whole  party 
would  have  been  guilty  of  murder  in  the  law.  Lord  Chief- 
Justice  Holt,  in  Mawgrige's  case,  says: 

"Now,  it  has  been  held,  that  if  A  of  his  malice  prepense 
assaults  B  to  kill  him,  and  B  draws  his  sword  and  attacks 
A  and  pursues  him,  then  A,  for  his  safety,  gives  back  and 


144  JOHN    ADAMS. 

retreats  to  a  wall,  and  B  still  pursuing  him  with  his  drawn 
sword,  A  in  his  detence  kills  B;  this  is  murder  in  A.  For 
A  having  malice  against  B,  and  in  pursuance  thereof  en- 
deavoring to  kill  him,  is  answerable  for  all  the  consequences 
of  which  he  was  the  original  cause.  It  is  not  reasonable  for 
any  man  that  is  dangerously  assaulted,  and  when  he  per- 
ceives his  life  in  danger  from  his  adversary,  but  to  have 
liberty  for  the  security  of  his  own  life,  to  pursue  him  that 
maliciously  assaulted  him ,  for  he  that  has  manifested  that 
he  has  malice  against  another  is  not  fit  to  be  trusted  with  a 
dangerous  weapon  in  his  hand.  And  so  resolved  by  all  the 
judges  when  they  met  at  Seargeant's  Inn,  in  preparation  for 
my  Lord  Morley's  trial." 

In  the  case  here  we  will  take  Montgomery,  if  you  please, 
when  he  was  attacked  by  the  stout  man  with  the  stick,  who 
aimed  it  at  his  head,  with  a  number  of  people  round  him 
crying  out,  "Kill  them,  kill  them."  Had  he  not  a  right  to 
kill  the  man?  If  all  the  party  were  guilty  of  the  assault 
made  by  the  stout  man,  and  all  of  them  had  discovered 
malice  in  their  hearts,  had  not  Montgomery  a  right,  accord- 
ing to  Lord  Chief-Justice  Holt,  to  put  it  out  of  their  power 
to  wreak  their  malice  upon  him  ?  I  will  not  at  present  look 
for  any  more  authorities  in  the  point  of  self-defence;  you 
will  be  able  to  judge  from  these  how  far  the  law  goes  in 
justifying  or  excusing  any  person  in  defence  of  himself, 
or  taking  away  the  life  of  another  who  threatens  him  in  life 
or  limb.  The  next  point  is  this :  that  in  case  of  an  unlaw- 
ful assembly,  all  and  every  one  of  the  assembly  is  guilty 
of  all  and  every  unlawful  act  committed  by  any  one  of 


JOHN   ADAMS.  145 

that  assembly  in  prosecution  of  the  unlawful  design  set 
out  upon. 

Rules  of  law  should  be  universally  known,  whatever 
effect  they  may  have  on  politics ;  they  are  rules  of  common 
law,  the  law  of  the  land ;  and  it  is  certainly  true,  that 
wherever  there  is  an  unlawful  assembly,  let  it  consist  of 
many  persons  or  a  few,  even-  man  in  it  is  guilty  of  every 
unlawful  act  committed  by  any  one  of  the  whole  party,  be 
they  more  or  be  they  less,  in  pursuance  of  their  unlawful 
design.  This  is  the  policy  of  the  law ;  to  discourage  and 
prevent  riots,  insurrections,  turbulence,  and  tumults. 

In  the  continual  vicissitudes  of  human  things,  amid  the 
shocks  of  fortune  and  the  whirls  of  passion  that  take  place 
at  certain  critical  seasons,  even  in  the  mildest  government, 
the  people  are  liable  to  run  into  riots  and  tumults.  There 
are  Church-quakes  and  State-quakes  in  the  moral  and  politi- 
cal world,  as  well  as  earthquakes,  storms,  and  tempests  in 
the  physical.  Thus  much,  however,  must  be  said  in  favor 
of  the  people  and  of  human  nature,  that  it  is  a  general,  if 
not  a  universal  truth,  that  the  aptitude  of  the  people  to 
mutinies,  seditions,  tumults,  and  insurrections,  is  in  direct 
proportion  to  the  despotism  of  the  government.  In  govern- 
ments completely  despotic — that  is,  where  the  will  of  one 
man  is  the  only  law,  this  disposition  is  most  prevalent.  In 
aristocracies  next,  in  mixed  monarchies,  less  than  either  of 
the  former ;  in  complete  republics  the  least  of  all,  and  under 
the  same  form  of  governments  as  in  a  limited  monarchy,  for 
example,  the  virtue  and  wisdom  of  the  administrations  may 
generally  be  measured  by  the  peace  and  order  that  are  seen 
among  the  people.  However  this  may  be,  such  is  the  «*•"- 


146  JOHN    ADAMS. 

perfection  of  all  things  in  this  world,  that  no  form  of 
government,  and  perhaps  no  virtue  or  wisdom  in  the  ad- 
ministration, can  at  all  times  avoid  riots  and  disorders 
among  the  people. 

Now,  it  is  from  this  difficulty  that  the  policy  of  the  law 
has  framed  such  strong  discouragements  to  secure  th&  peo- 
ple against  tumults ;  because,  when  they  once  begin,  there 
is  danger  of  their  running  to  such  excesses  as  will  overturn 
the  whole  system  of  government.  There  is  the  rule  from 
the  reverend  sage  of  the  law,  so  often  quoted  before : 

To  the  effect  that :  "All  present,  aiding  and  assisting, 
are  equally  principal  with  him  that  gave  the  stroke  whereof 
the  party  died.  For  though  one  gave  the  stroke,  yet  in 
interpretation  of  law  it  is  the  stroke  of  every  person  that 
was  present,  aiding  and  assisting." 

Again :  "If  divers  come  with  one  assent  to  do  mischief, 
as  to  kill,  to  rob  or  beat,  and  one  doeth  it,  they  are  all 
principals  in  the  felony.  If  many  be  present  and  only  one 
give  the  stroke  whereof  the  party  dies,  they  are  all  principal, 
if  they  came  for  that  purpose." 

Now,  if  the  party  at  Dock  Square  came  with  an  inten- 
tion only  to  beat  the  soldiers,  and  began  to  affray  with 
them,  and  any  of  them  had  been  accidentally  killed,  it 
would  have  been  murder,  because  it  was  an  unlawful  design 
they  came  upon.  If  but  one  does  it  they  are  all  considered 
in  the  eyes  of  the  law  guilty ;  if  any  one  gives  the  mortal 
stroke,  they  are  all  principals  here,  therefore  there  is  a  re- 
versal of  the  scene.  If  you  are  satisfied  that  these  soldiers 
were  there  on  a  lawful  design,  and  it  should  be  proved  any 


JOHN    ADAMS.  147 

of  them  shot  without  provocation,  and  killed  anybody,  he 
only  is  answerable  for  it. 

In  Hale's  "Pleas  of  the  Crown,"  it  is  stated  that: 
"Although  if  many  come  upon  an  unlawful  design,  and 
one  of  the  company  kill  one  of  the  adverse  party  in  pur- 
suance of  that  design,  all  are  principals;  yet  if  many  be 
together  upon  a  lawful  account,  and  one  of  the  company 
kill  another  of  the  adverse  party,  without  any  particular 
abetment  of  the  rest  to  this  fact  of  homicide,  they  are  not 
all  guilty  that  are  of  the  company,  but  only  those  that  gave 
the  stroke  or  actually  abetted  him  to  do  it." 

Again:  "In  case  of  a  riotous  assembly  to  rob  or  steal 
deer,  or  to  do  any  unlawful  act  of  violence,  there  the  of- 
fence of  one  is  the  offence  of  all  the  company." 

In  another  place:  "The  Lord  Dacre  and  divers  others 
went  to  steal  deer  in  the  park  of  one  Pellham.  Raydon, 
one  of  the  company,  killed  the  keeper  in  the  park,  the  Lord 
Dacre  and  the  rest  of  the  company  being  in  another  part 
of  the  park.  Yet  it  was  adjudged  murder  in  them  all,  and 
they  died  for  it."  And  he  quotes  Crompton  25,  Dalton 
93,  p.  241 :  "So  that  in  so  strong  a  case  as  this,  where  this 
nobleman  set  out  to  hunt  deer  in  the  ground  if  another, 
he  was  in  one  part  of  the  park  and  his  company  in  another 
part,  yet  they  were  all  guilty  of  murder." 

The  next  is: 

Hale's  Pleas  of  the  Crown :  "The  case  of  Drayton  Bas- 
sit ;  divers  persons  doing  an  unlawful  act,  all  are  guilty 
of  what  is  done  by  one." 


1^.8  JOHN    ADAMS. 

Foster  says :  "A  general  resolution  against  all  oppos- 
ers,  whether  such  resolution  appears  upon  evidence  to 
have  been  actually  and  implicitly  entered  into  by  the  con- 
federates, or  may  reasonably  be  collected  from  their  num- 
ber, arms  or  behavior,  at  or  before  the  scene  of  action,  such 
resolutions  so  proved  have  always  been  considered  as  strong 
ingredients  in  cases  of  this  kind.  And  in  cases  of  homicide 
committed  in  consequence  of  them,  every  person  present,  in 
the  sense  of  the  law,  when  the  homicide  has  been  involved 
in  the  guilt  of  him  that  gave  the  mortal  blow." 

Foster:  "The  cases  of  Lord  Dacre,  mentioned  by  Hale, 
and  of  Pudsey,  reported  by  Crompton  and  cited  by  Hale, 
turned  upon  this  point.  The  offences  they  respectively 
stood  charged  with,  as  principals,  were  committed  far  out 
of  their  sight  and  hearing,  and  yet  both  were  held  to  be 
present.  It  was  sufficient  that  at  the  instant  the  facts  were 
committed,  they  were  of  the  same  par.y  and  upon  the  same 
pursuit,  and  under  the  same  engagements  and  expectations 
of  mutual  defence  and  support  with  those  that  did  the 
facts." 

Thus  far  I  have  preceded,  and  I  believe  it  will  not  be 
hereafter  disputed  by  anybody,  that  this  law  ought  to  be 
known  to  every  one  who  has  any  disposition  to  be  con- 
cerned in  an  unlawful  assembly,  whatever  mischief  happens 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  design  they  set  out  upon,  all  are 
answerable  for  it.  It  is  necessary  we  should  consider  the 
definitions  of  some  other  crimes  as  well  as  murder ;  some- 
times one  crime  gives  occasion  to  another.  An  assault 
is  sometimes  the  occasion  of  manslaughter,  sometimes  of 


JOHN   ADAMS.  149 

excusable  homicide.     It  is  necessary  to  consider  what  is  a 
riot.     I  shall  give  you  the  definition  of  it: 

"Wheresoever  more  than  three  persons  use  force  or  vio- 
lence, for  the  accomplishment  of  any  design  whatever,  all 
concerned  are  rioters." 

Were  there  not  more  than  three  persons  in  Dock 
Square?  Did  they  not  agree  to  go  to  King  Street,  and 
attack  the  main  guard?  Where,  then,  is  the  reason  for 
hesitation  at  calling  it  a  riot?  If  we  cannot  speak  the 
law  as  it  is,  where  is  our  liberty?  And  this  rs  law,  that 
wherever  more  than  three  persons  are  gathered  together 
to  accomplish  anything  with  force,  it  is  a  riot. 

Hawkins  affirms:  "Wherever  more  than  three  persons 
use  force  and  violence,  all  who  are  concerned  therein  are 
rioters.  But  in  some  cases  wherein  the  law  authorizes 
force,  it  is  lawful  and  commendable  to  use  it.  As  for  a 
sheriff  or  constable,  or  perhaps  even  for  a  private  person,  to 
assemble  a  competent  number  of  people,  in  order  with  force 
to  oppose  rebels  or  enemies  or  rioters,  and  afterward,  with 
such  force  actually  to  suppress  them." 

I  do  not  mean  to  apply  the  word  rebel  on  this  occasion ; 
I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  ever  there  was  one  in 
Boston,  at  least  among  the  natives  of  the  country;  but 
rioters  are  in  the  same  situation,  as  far  as  my  argument  is 
concerned,  and  proper  officers  may  suppress  rioters,  and  so 
may  even  private  persons. 

If  we  strip  ourselves  free  from  all  military  laws,  mutiny 


150  JOHN   ADAMS. 

acts,  articles  of  war  and  soldiers'  oaths,  and  consider  these 
prisoners  as  neighbors,  if  any  of  their  neighbors  were  at- 
tacked in  King  Street,  they  had  a  right  to  collect  together 
to  suppress  this  riot  and  combination.  If  any  number  of 
persons  meet  together  at  a  fair  or  market,  and  happen  to  fall 
together  by  the  ears,  they  are  not  guilty  of  riot,  but  of  g. 
sudden  affray.  Here  is  another  paragraph  which  I  must 
read  to  you: 

Hawkins  again  says:  "If  a  number  of  persons  being 
met  together  at  a  fair  or  market,  or  on  any  other  lawful  or 
innocent  occasion,  happen,  on  a  sudden  quarrel,  to  fall 
together  by  the  ears,  they  are  not  guilty  of  a  riot,  but  of  a 
sudden  affray  only,  of  which  none  are  guilty  but  those  who 
actually  began  it,"  etc. 

It  would  be  endless,  as  well  as  superfluous,  to  examine 
whether  every  particular  person  engaged  in  a  riot  were  in 
truth  one  of  the  first  assembly  or  actually  had  a  previous 
knowledge  of  the  design  thereof.  I  have  endeavored  to. 
produce  the  best  authorities,  and  to  give  you  the  rules  of 
law  in  their  words,  for  I  desire  not  to  advance  anything 
of  my  own.  I  choose  to  lay  down  the  rules  of  law  from 
authorities  which  cannot  be  disputed.  Another  point  is 
this,  whether  and  how  far  a  private  person  may  aid  another 
in  distress?  Suppose  a  press-gang  should  come  on  shore 
in  this  town  and  assault  any  sailor  or  householdej  in  King 
Street,  in  order  to  carry  him  on  board  one  of  his  Majesty's 
ships,  and  impress  him  without  any  warrant  as  a  seaman  in 
his  Majesty's  service ;  how  far  do  you  suppose  the  inhabi- 


JOHN    ADAMS.  151 

tants  would  think  themselves  warranted  by  law  to  interpose 
against  that  lawless  press-gang?  I  agree  that  such  a  press- 
gang  would  be  as  unlawful  an  assembly  as  that  was  in  King 
Street.  If  they  were  to  press  an  inhabitant  and  carry  him 
off  for  a  sailor,  would  not  the  inhabitants  think  themselves 
warranted  by  law  to  interpose  in  behalf  of  their  fellow- 
citizen?  Now,  gentlemen,  if  the  soldiers  had  no  right  to 
interpose  in  the  relief  of  the  sentry,  the  inhabitants  would 
have  no  right  to  interpose  with  regard  to  the  citizen,  for 
whatever  is  law  for  a  soldier  is  law  for  a  sailor  and  for  a 
citizen.  They  all  stand  upon  an  equal  footing  in  this  re- 
spect. I  believe  we  shall  not  have  it  disputed  that  it  would 
be  lawful  to  go  into  King  Street  and  help  an  honest  man 
there  against  the  press-master.  We  have  many  instances  in 
the  books  which  authorize  it. 

Now,  suppose  you  should  have  a  jealousy  in  your  minds 
that  the  people  who  made  this  attack  upon  the  sentry  had 
nothing  in  their  intention  more  than  to  take  him  off  his 
post,  and  that  was  threatened  by  some.  Suppose  they  in- 
tended to  go  a  little  further,  and  tar  and  feather  him,  or  to 
ride  him  (as  the  phrase  is  in  Hudibras),  he  would  have  had 
a  good  right  to  have  stood  upon  his  defence — the  defence 
of  his  liberty ;  and  if  he  could  not  preserve  that  without 
the  hazard  of  his  own  life,  he  would  have  been  warranted 
in  depriving  those  of  life  who  were  endeavoring  to  deprive 
him  of  his.  That  is  a  point  I  would  not  give  up  for  my 
right  hand — nay,  for  my  life. 

Well,  I  say,  if  the  people  did  this,  or  if  this  was  only 
their  intention,  surely  the  officers  and  soldiers  had  a  right 
to  go  to  his  relief ;  and  therefore  they  set  out  upon  a  lawful 


152  JOHN    ADAMS. 

errand.  They  were,  therefore,  a  lawful  assembly,  if  we 
only  consider  them  as  private  subjects  and  fellow  citizens, 
without  regard  to  mutiny  acts,  articles  of  war  or  soldiers' 
oaths.  A  private  person,  or  any  number  of  private  persons, 
has  a  right  to  go  to  the  assistance  of  a  fellow  subject  in  dis- 
tress or  danger  of  his  life,  when  assaulted  and  in  danger 
from  a  few  or  a  multitude. 

The  authority  says :  "If  a  man  perceives  another  by 
force  to  be  injuriously  treated,  pressed,  and  restrained  of 
his  liberty,  though  the  person  abused  doth  not  complain 
or  call  for  aid  or  assistance,  and  others,  out  of  compassion, 
shall  come  to  his  rescue,  and  kill  any  of  those  that  shall 
so  restrain  him,  that  is  manslaughter." 

Again :  "A  and  others  without  any  warrant  impress  B 
to  serve  the  king  at  sea.  B  quietly  submitted,  and  went  off 
with  the  press-master.  Hugett  and  the  others  pursued  them, 
and  required  a  sight  of  their  warrant ;  but  they  showing  a 
piece  of  paper  that  was  not  a  sufficient  warrant,  thereupon 
Hugett  with  the  others  drew  their  swords,  and  the  press- 
masters  theirs,  and  so  there  was  a  combat,  and  those  who 
endeavored  to  rescue  the  pressed  man  killed  one  of  the  pre- 
tended press-masters.  This  was  but  manslaughter ;  for  when 
the  liberty  of  one  subject  is  invaded,  it  affects  all  the  rest. 
It  is  a  provocation  to  all  people,  as  being  of  ill  example 
and  pernicious  consequences." 

In  the  case  of  the  Queen  versus  Tooley  et  al.,  Lord  Chief- 
Justice  Holt  says:  "The  prisoner  (j.  e.  Tooley)  in  this  had 
sufficient  provocation;  for  if  one  be  impressed  upon  an  un- 
lawful authority,  it  is  a  sufficient  provocation  to  all  peo- 
ple out  of  compassion;  and  where  the  liberty  of  the  sub- 


JOHN    ADAMS.  153 

ject  is  invaded,  it  is  a  provocation  to  all  the  subjects  of 
England,  etc.,  and  surely  a  man  ought  to  be  concerned 
for  Magna  Charta  and  the  laws;  and  if  any  one,  against 
the  law,  imprisons  a  man,  he  is  an  offender  against  Magna 
Charta." 

I  am  not  insensible  to  Sir  Michael  Foster's  observations 
on  these  cases,  but  apprehend  they  do  not  invalidate  the  au- 
thority of  them  as  far  as  I  now  apply  them  to  the  purposes 
of  my  argument.  If  a  stranger,  a  mere  fellow-subject,  may 
interpose  to  defend  the  liberty,  he  may,  too,  defend  the  life 
of  another  individual.  But,  according  to  the  evidence,  some 
imprudent  people,  before  the  sentry,  proposed  to  take  him 
off  his  post;  others  threatened  his  life;  and  intelligence  of 
this  was  carried  to  the  main  guard  before  any  of  the  prison- 
ers turned  out.  They  were  then  ordered  out  to  relieve  the 
sentry;  and  any  of  our  fellow-citizens  might  lawfully  have 
gone  upon  the  same  errand.  They  were,  therefore,  a  law- 
ful assembly. 

I  have  but  one  point  of  law  more  to  consider,  and  that 
is  this.  In  the  case  before  you  I  do  not  pretend  to  prove 
that  every  one  of  the  unhappy  persons  slain  was  concerned 
in  the  riot.  The  authorities  read  to  you  just  now  say  it 
would  be  endless  to  prove  whether  every  person  that  was 
present  and  in  a  riot  was  concerned  in  planning  the  first 
enterprise  or  not.  Nay,  I  believe  it  but  justice  to  say 
some  were  perfectly  innocent  of  the  occasion.  I  have  rea- 
son to  suppose  that  one  of  them  was — Mr.  Maverick.  He 
was  a  very  worthy  young  man,  as  he  has  been  represented 
to  me,  and  had  no  concern  in  the  riofers'  proceedings  of 


^54-  JOHN   ADAMS. 

that  night;  and  I  believe  the  same  may  be  said  in  favor 
of  one  more  at  least,  Mr.  Caldwell,  who  was  slain;  and, 
therefore,  many  people  may  think  that  as  he  and  perhaps 
another  was  innocent,  therefore  innocent  blood  having  been 
shed,  that  must  be  expiated  by  the  death  of  somebody  or 
other.  I  take  notice  of  this,  because  one  gentleman  was 
nominated  by  the  sheriff  for  a  juryman  upon  this  trial,  be- 
cause he  had  said  he  believed  Captain  Preston  was  innocent, 
but  innocent  blood  had  been  shed,  and  therefore  somebody 
ought  to  be  hanged  for  it,  which  he  thought  was  indirectly 
giving  his  opinion  in  this  cause.  I  am  afraid  many  other 
persons  have  formed  such  an  opinion.  I  do  not  take  it  to 
be  a  rule,  that  where  innocent  blood  is  shed  the  person  must 
die.  In  the  instance  of  the  Frenchman  on  the  plains  of 
Abraham,  they  were  innocent,  fighting  for  their  king  and 
country ;  their  blood  was  as  innocent  as  any.  There  may  be 
multitudes  killed,  when  innocent  blood  is  shed  on  all  sides ; 
so  that  is  not  an  invariable  rule.  I  will  put  a  case  in 
which,  I  dare  say,  all  will  agree  with  me.  Here  are  two 
persons,  the  father  and  the  son,  go  out  a-hunting.  They 
take  different  roads.  The  father  hears  a  rushing  among 
the  bushes,  takes  it  to  be  game,  fires,  and  kills  his  son, 
through  a  mistake.  Here  is  innocent  blood  shed,  but  yet 
nobody  will  say  the  father  ought  to  die  for  it.  So  that  the 
general  rule  of  law  is,  that  whenever  one  person  has  a  right 
to  do  an  act,  and  that  act,  by  any  accident,  takes  away  the 
life  of  another,  is  excusable.  It  bears  the  same  regard  to 
the  innocent  as  to  the  guilty.  If  two  men  are  together,  and 
attack  me,  and  I  have  a  right  to  kill  them,  I  strike  at  them, 
and  by  mistake  strike  a  third  and  kill  him,  as  I  had  a  right 


JOHN    ADAMS.  155 

to  kill  the  first,  my  killing  the  other  will  be  excusable,  as 
it  happened  by  accident.  If  I,  in  the  heat  of  passion,  aim  a 
blow  at  the  person  who  has  assaulted  me,  and  aiming  at  him 
I  kill  another  person,  it  is  but  manslaughter. 

Another  authority  affirms  that :  "If  an  action  unlawful  in 
itself  is  done  deliberately,  and  with  intention  of  mischief, 
or  great  bodily  harm  to  particulars,  or  of  mischief  indis- 
criminately, fall  it  where  it  may,  and  death  ensues,  against 
or  beside  the  original  intention  of  the  party,  it  will  be  mur- 
der. But  if  such  mischevious  intention  doth  not  appear, 
which  is  matter  of  fact,  and  to  be  collected  from  circum- 
stances, and  the  act  was  done  heedlessly  and  inconsiderately, 
it  will  be  manslaughter,  not  accidental  death,  because  the  act 
upon  which  death  ensued  was  unlawful. 

Suppose,  in  this  caser  the  mulatto  man  was  the  person 
who  made  the  assault ;  suppose  he  was  concerned  in  the 
unlawful  assembly,  and  this  party  of  soldiers,  endeavoring 
to  defend  themselves  against  him,  happened  to  kill  another 
person,  who  was  innocent — though  the  soldiers  had  no  rea- 
son, that  we  know  of,  to  think  any  person  there,  at  least 
of  that  number  who  were  crowding  about  them,  innocent, 
they  might,  naturally  enough,  presume  all  to  be  guilty  of 
the  riot  and  assault,  and  to  come  with  the  same  design — I 
say,  if  on  firing  on  those  who  were  guilty,  they  accidentally 
killed  an  innocent  person,  it  was  not  their  fault.  They  were 
obliged  to  defend  themselves  against  those  who  were  press- 
ing upon  them.  They  are  not  answerable  for  it  with  their 
lives;  for  on  supposition  it  was  justifiable  or  excusable  to 
kill  Attucks,  or  any  other  person,  it  will  be  equally  justifi- 


156  JOHN    ADAMS. 

able  or  excusable  if  in  firing  at  him  they  killed  another,  who 
was  innocent,  or  if  the  provocation  was  such  as  to  mitigate 
the  guilt  of  manslaughter,  it  will  equally  mitigate  the  guilt, 
if  they  killed  an  innocent  man  undesignedly,  in  aiming  at 
him  who  gave  the  provocation,  according  to  Judge  Foster; 
and  as  this  point  is  of  such  consequence,  I  must -produce 
some  more  authorities  for  it. 

Hawkins  on  this  point  says :  "Also,  if  a  third  person  ac- 
cidentally happen  to  be  killed  by  one  engaged  in  a  combat, 
upon  a  sudden  quarrel,  it  seems  that  he  who  killed  him  is 
guiLy  of  manslaughter  only,"  etc. 

I  shall  now  consider  one  question  more,  and  that  is  con- 
cerning provocation.  We  have  hitherto  been  considering 
self  defence,  and  how  far  persons  may  go  in  defending  them- 
selves against  aggressors,  even  by  taking  away  their  lives, 
and  now  proceed  to  consider  such. provocations  as  the  law 
allows  to  mitigate  or  extenuate  the  guilt  of  killing,  where 
it  is  not  justifiable  or  excusable.  An  assault  and  battery 
committed  upon  a  man  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  endanger 
his  life  is  such  a  provocation  as  the  law  allows  to  reduce 
killing  down  to  the  crime  of  manslaughter.  Now,  the  law 
has  been  made  on  more  considerations  than  we  are  capable 
of  making  at  present ;  the  law  considers  a  man  as  capable  of 
bearing  anything  and  everything  but  blows.  I  may  re- 
proach a  man  as  much  as  I  please;  I  may  call  him  a  thief, 
robber,  traitor,  scoundrel,  coward,  lobster,  bloody  back, 
etc.,  and  if  he  kills  me  it  will  be  murder,  if  nothing  else 
but  words  precede;  but  if  from  giving  him  such  kind  of 
language  I  proceed  to  take  him  by  the  nose,  or  fillip  him 
on  the  forehead,  that  is  an  assault;  that  is  a  blow.  The 


JOHN    ADAMS.  157 

law  will  not  oblige  a  man  to  stand  still  and  bear  it;  there 
is  the  distinction.  Hands  off;  touch  me  not.  As  soon  as 
you  touch  me,  if  I  run  you  through  the  heart,  it  is  but 
manslaughter.  The  utility  of  this  distinction,  the  more  you 
think  of  it  the  more  you  will  be  satisfied  with  it.  It  is  an 
assault  whenever  a  blow  is  struck,  let  it  be  ever  so  slight, 
and  sometimes  even  without  a  blow.  The  law  considers 
man  as  frail  and  passionate.  When  his  passions  are 
touched,  he  will  be  thrown  off  his  guard,  and  therefore 
the  law  makes  allowance  for  this  frailty — considers  him 
as  in  a  fit  of  passion,  not  having  the  possession  of  his  intel- 
lectual faculties,  and  therefore  does  not  oblige  him  to  meas- 
ure out  his  blows  with  a  yardstick,  or  weigh  them  in  a 
scale.  Let  him  kill  with  a  sword,  gun,  or  hedge-stake,  it 
is  not  murder,  but  only  manslaughter. 

In  Regina  versus  Mawgrige.  "Rules  supported  by  au- 
thority and  general  consent  and  showing  what  are  always 
allowed  to  be  sufficient  provocations.  First,  if  one  man  upon 
any  words  shall  make  an  assault  upon  another,  either  by 
pulling  him  by  the  nose  or  filliping  him  on  the  forehead, 
and  he  that  is  so  assaulted  shall  draw  his  sword  and  im- 
mediately run  the  other  through,  that  is  but  manslaughter, 
for  the  peace  is  broken  by  the  person  killed,  and  with  an 
indignity  to  him  that  received  the  assault.  Besides,  he 
that  was  so  affronted  might  reasonably  apprehend  that  he 
that  treated  him  in  that  manner  might  have  some  further 
design  upon  him." 

So  that  here  is  the  boundary,  when  a  man  is  assaulted 
and  kills  in  consequence  of  that  assault,  it  is  but  manslaugh- 
ter. I  will  just  read  as  I  go  along  the  definition  of  assault: 


158  JOHN    ADAMS. 

Hawkins  states  that:  "An  assault  is  an  attempt  or  offer, 
with  force  01  violence,  to  do  a  corporal  hurt  to  another,  as 
by  striking  at  him  with  or  without  a  weapon,  or  presenting 
a  gun  at  him  at  such  a  distance  to  which  the  gun  will  carry, 
or  pointing  a  pitchfork  at  him,  or  by  any  other  such  like  act 
done  in  angry,  threatening  manner,  etc. ;  but  no  words  can 
amount  to  an  assault." 

Here  is  the  definition  of  an  assault,  which  is  sufficient 
provocation  to  soften  killing  down  to  manslaughter: 

Hawkins  further  says  that:  "Neither  can  he  be  thought 
guilty  of  a  greater  crime  than  manslaughter,  who,  finding 
a  man  in  bed  with  his  wife,  or  being  actually  struck  by 
him,  or  pulled  by  the  nose  or  filliped  upon  the  forehead, 
immediately  kills  him,  or  in  defence  of  his  person  from 
an  unlawful  arrest,  or  in  the  defence  of  his  house  from  those 
who,  claiming  a  title  to  it,  attempt  forcibly  to  enter  it,  and 
to  that  purpose  shoot  at  it,"  etc. 

Every  snowball,  oyster  shell,  cake  of  ice,  or  bit  of  cinder, 
that  was  thrown  that  night  at  the  sentinel,  was  an  assault 
upon  him ;  every  one  that  was  thrown  at  the  party  of  sol- 
diers was  an  assault  upon  them,  whether  it  hit  any  of  them 
or  not.  I  am  guilty  of  an  assault  if  I  present  a  gun  at  any 
person ;  and  if  I  insult  him  in  that  manner  and  he  shoots 
me,  it  is  but  manslaughter. 

Foster  remarks:  "To  what  I  have  offered  with  regard 
to  sudden  rencounters  let  me  add,  that  the  blood  already 
too  much  heated,  kindleth  afresh  at  every  pass  or  blow. 
And  in  the  tumult  of  the  passions,  in  which  the  mere  in- 
stinct of  self-preservation  has  no  inconsiderable  share,  the 
voice  of  reason  is  not  heard ;  and  therefore  the  law,  in  con- 


JOHN   ADAMS.  I  ;9 

• 

descension  to  the  infirmities  of  flesh  and  blood,  doth  exten- 
uate the  offence." 

Insolent,  scurrilous,  or  slanderous  language,  when  it 
precedes  an  assault,  aggravates  it. 

Foster  again  says :  "We  all  know  that  words  of  reproach, 
how  grating  and  offensive  soever,  are  in  the  eye  of  the 
law  no  provocation  in  the  case  of  voluntary  homicide ;  and 
yet  everv  man  who  hath  considered  the  human  frame,  or  but 
attended  to  the  workings  of  his  own  heart  knoweth  that 
affronts  of  that  kind  pierce  deeper  and  stimulate  in  the 
veins  more  effectually  than  a  slight  injury  done  to  a  third 
person,  though  under  the  color  of  justice,  possibly  can." 

I  produce  this  :o  show  the  assault  in  this  case  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  scurrilous  language  which  preceded  it.  Such 
words  of  reproach  stimulate  in  the  veins  and  exasperate  the 
mind,  and  no  doubt  if  an  assault  and  battery  succeeds  them, 
killing  under  such  provocation  is  softened  to  manslaughter, 
but  killing  without  such  provocation  makes  it  murder 


ANECDOTES  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ADAMS'S  RULES. 

Here  is  the  rule  which,  with  Adams's  natural  abilities, 
made  him  a  great  lawyer  and  a  great  statesman 

"Rise  and  mount  your  horse  by  the  morning's  dawn, 
and  shake  away,  amidst  the  great  and  beautiful  scenes 
of  nature  that  appear  at  that  time  of  day,  all  the  crudi- 
ties that  are  left  in  your  stomach,  and  all  the  obstruc- 
tions that  are  left  in  your  brains.  Then  return  to  your 


iCo  JOHN  ADAMS. 

studies,  and  bend  your  whole  soul  to  the"  institutes  of 
the  law  and  the  reports  of  cases  that  have  been  adjusted 
by  the  rules  of  the  institutes.  Let  no  trifling  diversion 
or  amusement  or  company  decoy  you  from  your  books: 
i.  <?.,  no  girl,  no  gun,  no  cards,  no  flutes,  no  violins,-  no 
dress,  no  tobacco,  no  laziness." 

ADAMS   AND    FRANKLIN. 

When  Adams  went  to  meet  Lord  Howe,  he  had  to 
sleep  one  night  in  bed  with  Franklin  in  a  small  room. 
Adams  wanted  the  window  shut:  Franklin  wanted  it 
open.  Adams  yielded:  Franklin  expounded  to  him  his 
theory  that  no  one  ever  takes  cold  from  exposure  to  cold 
air.  He  says  that  Franklin,  according  to  his  own  physi- 
cian, died  of  a  cold  caught  by  his  sitting  some  hours  in 
a  draft  from  a  window. 

ADAMS   AS   A    FIGHTING   MARINE. 

During  Adams's  first  voyage, his  vessel  encountered  the 
British  privateer  "Martha"  which  the  "Boston"  captured 
after  a  short  action.  One  cannon  shot  passed  over  Ad- 
ams's head  as  he  stood  on  the  quarter  deck.  Commo- 
dore Tucker  found  him  on  deck,  musket  in  hand,  firing 
like  a  common  marine,  ordered  him  to  go  below,  and 
passed  on.  Several  minutes  later  he  still  found  him  fir- 
ing his  musket.  "Why  are  you  here,  sir?"  cried  the 
Commodore;  "I  am  commanded  by  the  Continental  Con- 
gress to  carry  you  in  safety  to  Europe,  and  I  will  do  it." 
He  seized  the  minister  to  France  in  his  arms  and  forced 
him  away. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  (6| 

ADAMS  AND   MANSFIELD. 

In  1783,  while  still  negotiating  the  peace,  Adams  was 
in  London.  His  friend  Copley  procured  for  him  from  the 
great  judge,  Lord  Mansfield,  a  place  in  the  House  of 
Lords  to  hear  the  King's  speech  at  the  opening  of  Par- 
liament, and  to  witness  the  introduction  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  then  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  While 
he  stood  waiting  in  the  lobby,  among  a  hundred  of  the 
first  people  of  the  kingdom,  "Sir  Francis  Molineux,  the 
gentleman  usher  of  the  black  rod,  appeared  suddenly  in 
the  room  with  his  long  staff,  and  roared  out  with  a  very 
loud  voice,  'Where  is  Mr.  Adams,  Lord  Mansfield's 
friend?'  I  frankly  avowed  myself  Lord  Mansfield's  friend, 
and  was  politely  conducted  by  Sir  Francis  to  my  place. 
A  gentleman  said  to  me  the  next  day,  'How  short  a  time 
has  passed  since  I  heard  that  same  Lord  Mansfield  say 
in  that  same  House  of  Lords — My  Lords,  if  you  do  not 
kill  him,  he  will  kill  you!'  Mr.  West  said  to  me  that 
this  was  one  of  the  finest  finishings  in  the  picture  of 
American  independence." 

Lord  Mansfield  had  not  said  this  of  Mr.  Adams  indi- 
vidually, but  of  the  Americans  collectively:  "If  you  do 
not  kill  them,"  etc.  This  was  on  Dec.  2Oth,  1775. 

ADAMS'S  COMMON  PLACE  BOOK. 

When  Mr.  Adams  was  about  twenty  years  old,  he  be- 
gan a  common  place  book,  entering  in  it  extracts  from 
his  reading.  The  first  entry  in  it  was  a  maxim  in  Greek 
verse,  ascribed  to  "Pythagoras:" 


6  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Let  sleep  not  close  my  languid  eyes 
Till  thrice  the  day  has  been  reviewed: 

I've  traveled  where?  I've  done  what  work? 
What  duty  have  I  left  undone? 

This   maxim   was  followed  by  the  eminent  German 
physician,    Hufeland    (1762-1836),    who   asked   himself 
every  night,  "What  have  I  learned  to-day?" 
ADAMS'S  DIARY. 

Mr.  Adams  began  a  diary  at  the  same  time,  in  which 
he  entered  his  notes  of  the  day,  his  feelings,  his  impres- 
sions of  persons  and  events.  Pressure  of  business  often 
interrupted  it  for  long  periods.  His  son,  John  Quincy, 
did  the  same.  Much  of  these  documents  has  been  pub- 
lished, making  valuable  historical  material. 

ADAMS  IN   ENGLAND. 

When  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed  minister  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  at  the  English  court,  one  of  the  foreign  am- 
bassadors at  Paris  said  to  him,  "You  have  been  often  in 
.England?"  "Never  but  once,  in  November  and  Decem- 
ber, 1783.' '  "You  have  relations  in  England,  no  doubt?" 
"None  at  all."  "None?  How  can  that  be?  You  are  of 
English  extraction."  "Neither  my  father  or  mother, 
grandfather  or  grandmother,  great-grandfather  or  great- 
grandmother,  nor  any  other  relation  that  I  know  of,  or 
care  a  farthing  for,  has  been  in  England,  these  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years;  so  that  you  see  I  have  not  one  drop 
of  blood  in  my  veins  but  what  is  American."  "Age,  we 
have  seen  proof  enough  of  that."  "This  flattered  me,  no 
doubt,"  Mr.  Adams  adds,  "and  I  was  vain  enough  to  be 
pleased  with  it." 


JOHN  ADAMS.  , 

THE  STORY  OF  JOHN  ADAMS. 

FOR  A  SCHOOL  OR  CLUB   PROGRAMME. 

Each  numbered  paragraph  is  to  be  given  to  a  pupil  or 
member  to  read,  or  to  recite,  in  a  clear,  distinct  tone. 

If  the  school  or  club  is  small,  each  person  may  take 
three  or  four  paragraphs,  but  should  not  be  required  to 
recite  them  in  succession. 

1.  John  Adams  was  born  at  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  October 
IQ,  1735.     He  was  descended  from  worthy  ancestors,  who  were  among 
the  founders  of  the  province  in  which  he  was  born. 

2.  His   father  was  a  farmer  in  plain  circumstances,  but  a  man 
who  had  received  a  college  education  as  the  only  legacy   from  his 
father.     He  determined  that  John  should  have  the  best  college  edu- 
cation that  could  be  afforded. 

3.  His  mother's   name  was  Susanna  Boylston,  the  daughter  of 
Peter  Boylston,  of  Brookline,  Massachusetts. 

4.  Both  of  his  parents  were   possessed  of  admirable  traits  of 
character,  and  were  earnest  and  exemplary  in  their  religious  lives. 

5.  John  Adams  says  that  at  the  first  he  did  not  take  much  inter- 
est in  his  books,  and  thus  disappointed  the  expectation  of  his  parents 
who  had  designed  him  for  a  clergyman's  life. 

6.  A  change  of  tutors  made  an  entire  change  in  the  boy's  incli- 
nations, and  he  began  eagerly  to  study.    He  entered   Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1751,  and  was  graduated  in  1755,  taking  a  high  position  in  his 
class. 

7.  Having  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world,  he  began  by  teach- 
ing in  the  public  school  in  the  town  of  Worcester.    His  salary  was 
very  small,  which  required  of  him  the  utmost  carefulness  in  his  ex- 
penditures. 

8.  Preferring  the  study  of  law  to  that  of  the  ministry,  he  pre- 
pared himself  for  his  profession  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Putnam 

q.     By  diligent  attention  to  his  studies  he  became  one  of  the 
most  thoroughly  informed  members  of  the  bar  in  New  England. 

10.  In  October,  1758,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supe- 
rior Court  in  Boston,  and  for  several  years  had  to  struggle  like  many 
young  lawyers  to  gain  practice. 

11.  The  first  legal  case  he  undertook  was  decided  against  him, 
which  greatly  mortified  him. 

12.  In   1761   he  heard  the  splendid   argument  of  James  Otis 


,64  JOHN  ADAMS. 

against  the  "Writs  of  Assistance,"  which  made  a  vivid  impression 
upon  his  mind. 

13.  On  the  25th  of  October,  1764,  he  married  Abigail  Smith,  the 
second  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William  Smith,  of  Weymouth.     She  was 
a  woman  of  great  beauty,  strong  intelligence,  and  sterling  moral  ex- 
cellencies.    To  her  more  than  to  any  one  else  he  owed  the  great  suc- 
cess of  his  after  life. 

14.  His  fellow  townsmen  of  Braintree  honored  him  with  the  po- 
sitions of  Surveyor  of  the  Highways,  Selectman  and  Assessor,  and 
Overseer  of  the  Poor.     The  duties  of  these  offices  he  performed  with 
vigor  and  fidelity.     Faithful  in  the  least  he  was  afterwards  to  become 
faithful  in  much. 

15.  Mr.  Adams  became  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  patriot  party 
by   arguinig    for  the   sittings  of  the  Courts  of  Massachusetts,  which 
Chief  Justice  Hutchinson  had  refused  to  hold,  because  they  disregard- 
ed the  Stamp  Act. 

16.  John  Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  defended,  in  the  face  of 
great   opposition,  the  officers  and  soldiers  concerned  in  the  Boston 
Massacre,  which  occurred  on  the  5th  of  March,  1770.     It  was  a  brave 
and  noble  act  for  these  two  men  to  do. 

17.  In  June,  1770,  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  a  delegate  from  Bos- 
ton to  the  General  Court,  he  having  made  that  city  his  home.     The 
patriots  needed  just  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Adams  with  his  legal  know- 
ledge and  ability  as  their  counselor  and  guide. 

18.  While  delegate  he  rendered  important  services  by  antagon- 
izing Governor  Hutchinson,  and    afterwards  secured  the   impeach- 
ment of  Chief  Justice  Oliver  who  was  bent  on  destroying  the  liberties 
of  the  colonies. 

IQ.     He  took  his  seat  as  delegate  to  the  first  Continental  Congress 
in  September,  1774,  and  became  at  once  one  of  its  recognized  leaders. 

20.  He  was  returned  as  delegate  to  the  second  Congress  in  May, 
1775,  and  nominated  Washington  as  commander-in-chier. 

21.  He  returned  home  in  December,  1775,  to  accept  the  position 
of  Chief  Justice   of   Massachusetts,  and  to  serve  as  member  of  the 
Provincial  Council. 

22.  Early  in  1776  the  Council  having  elected  him  a  delegate  to 
Congress  to  serve  during  the  year,  he  went  back  in  February  to  Phil- 
adelphia and  exerted  a  profound  influence  in  that  body  and  through- 
out the  whole  country. 

23.  He  succeeded  in  inducing  Congress  to  advise  the  colonies  to 
institute  governments  of  their  own  in  place  of  the  royal  government 
which  had  ceased  to  exist. 

24.  On  the  fifteenth  of  May  Mr.  Adams  seconded  the  resolution 
of  Richard  Henry  Lee  for  the  independence  of  the  colonies,  which 
was  adopted  by  a  bare  majority  of  one. 


JOHN  AD^MS.  ,65 

25.  He  was  appointed  on  the  committee  to  prepare  a  declara- 
tion, which,  when  presented,  he  defended  in  a  masterly  and  convinc- 
ing manner. 

26.  His  efforts  so  impressed  Jefferson  that  he  styled  Mr.  Adams 
"The  Colossus  of  Independence"  on  the  floor  of  Congress. 

27.  Mr.  Adams  was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  relations 
with  foreign  powers,  and  was  also  at  the  head  of  the  Board  of  War. 

28.  He  also  served  as  a  member  of  over  one  hundred  different 
committees,  and  was  chairman  of  at  least  twenty-five. 

2p.  He  exerted  all  his  powers  to  give  efficient  aid  to  the  army, 
and  was  the  inspiring  spirit  in  organizing  a  naval  force,  which  was 
always  a  cherished  feature  of  his  national  system. 

30.  He   was  appointed  in  November,   1777,  by  Congress,  to  re- 
place Silas  Deane,  to  secure  an  alliance  with  France,  in  response  to 
the  demand,"  //  >  want  one  man  of  inflexible  integrity  on  the  embassy" 

31.  He   returned   home   on  the  second  of  August,  1779,  having 
performed  his  arduous  and  perplexing  duties  with  great  tact  and  dis- 
cretion. 

32.  While   assisting   in   framing  a  new  Constitution  for  Massa- 
chusetts, he  was  appointed  on  the  27th  of  September,  17/9,  one  of  the 
commissioners  to  help  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain. 

33.  While  in  Paris  waiting  for  the  movements  of  that  power,  he 
had  a  controversy  with  Count  de  Vergennes,  the  French  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  in  which  Dr.  Franklin  became  involved. 

34.  The  matter  was  ultimately  referred  to  Congress,  which,  by  a 
formal  vote,  approved  the  course  of  Mr.  Adams. 

35.  He  secured,  on  the  loth  of  April,  1782,  as  minister  plenipo- 
tentiary, a  recognition  by  Holland  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  and  afterwards  a  large  loan  for  the  benefit  of  the  government. 

36.  He  helped  conduct,  with  John  Jay  and  Benjamin  Franklin, 
the  peace  negotiations  with  Great  Britain  to  a  successful  issue,  which 
were  definitely  completed  in  September,  1783. 

37.  He  afterwards  assisted  in  negotiating  commercial  treaties 
with  the  different  nations  of  Europe,  and   heard   King  George  an- 
nounce to  Parliament  his  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States. 

38.  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed  on  the   Mth  of  February,  1785, 
minister  in  the  Court  of  St.  James.    George  the  Third  committed  an- 
other stupendous  blunder,  which  was  repeated  by  his  Court,  in  treat- 
ing Mr.  Adams  with  frigid  politeness  and  cold  distrust. 

39.  Returning  to  Boston  in  1788,  he  gave  his  cordial  support  to 
the  constitution  then  under  discussion  by  the  States. 

40.  In   the  election  of    1789,  he  was  unanimously  chosen  Vice 
President  of  the  United  States.   The  office  often  permitted  him  to  ex- 
ercise a  controlling  influence  upon  public  affairs. 


,66  JOHN  ADAMS. 

41.  And  on  the  refusal  of  Washington  to  serve  a  third  term  he 
was  elected  President  in  1796,  and  inaugurated  at  Philadelphia  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1797. 

42.  During  his  term  of  office  the  famous  measures  known  as  the 
"Alien  and  Sedition  Acts"  were  passed. 

43.  Although    Mr.   Adams's   participation  in  these   laws,  which 
were  aimed  mainly  at  French  malcontents  in  the  country,  was  con- 
fined  to   his   official   signature,  it  prevented  his  election  the  second 
time  as  President. 

44.  During  his  administration  a  navy  was   created  in  anticipa- 
tion of  a  war  with  France,  the  beginning  of  our  glorious  naval  force 
which  has  rendered  such  splendid  service  in  the  Spanish-American 
war. 

45.  For  twenty-five  years  after  his  retirement  from  the  Presi- 
dency, Mr.  Adams  lived  a  peaceful  life  in  his  New  England  home. 
Sorrow  and  joy  were,  however,  his  portion. 

46.  On   the  28th  of  October,    1818,  his  wife,   who  had  been  the 
strong  support   of   his    life,  was  called  away.     In  1825,  when  nearly 
ninety  years  of  age,  he  heard  of  the  election  of  his  son,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  as  President  of  the  United  States,  by  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. 

47.  On  the  4th  of  July,  1826,  the  celebration  at  Quincy  was  going 
on,  and  the  ringing  cheers  to  the  toast  for  the  day,  which  Mr.  Adams 
had  presented  on  the  3Oth  of  June — "Independence  Forever" — were 
plainly  heard  by  those  who  were  watching  the  dying  statesman. 

48.  His  lips  moved.     Bending  over  him  his  attendants  caught 
the  words,  "Thomas  Jefferson  still  lives."     It  was  not  so.     His  great 
co-worker   in    the  cause  of  independence  liad  just  before  preceded 
him  to  the  life  beyond. 


PROGRAMME  FOR  A  JOHN  ADAMS  EVENING. 

1.  Music. 

2.  Essay — Brief  Sketch  of  Adams's  Career. 

3.  Brief    Papers — "Adams   in    France,"    "Adams   in    Holland." 
Discussion. 

4.  Music — Vocal  or  Instrumental. 

5.  Brief  Sketches— "Adams  and  Hamilton,"  "Adams  and  Jeffer- 
son."    Discussion. 

6.  Music. 

7.  Brief  Sketch— "Alien  and  Sedition  Acts." 

8.  Recitation— "From  Speeches  of  John  Adams." 
Q.    Music. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  ,67 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW. 

What  is  said  regarding  the  supremacy  of  one  mind?  Of  the  con- 
stitution oj a  State ?  What  is  the  story  of  the  County  officers?  What 
does  it  illustrate  ?  /  Vhat  become  of  the  old  jail?  The  new  structure  ? 

H  'hat  is  said  of  ancient  Greece  ?  Of  Solon  ?  Of  modem  States  t 
Of  the  fitments  in  our  daily  life  f  To  what  are  republics  suited?  What 
has  been  the  history  of  France?  Of  Switzerland?  To  what  should 
these  facts  lead  us?  What  is  the  influence  of  small  communities  on  re- 
publics ? 

What  is  said  of  the  Constitution  of  ifSS?  Of  the  founders?  Of 
the  caution  to  be  borne  in  mind?  Of  patriotism?  Of  feeling  and  opin- 
ion? Of  Washington? 

What  lessons  should  republicans  and  democrats  learn?  What  is 
said  of  the  early  patriots  who  had  different  opinions?  Of  John  Ad- 
ams? Of  Henry  Adams?  Of  his  ancestors?  Of  his  estate?  Of  the 
effect  of  Nature  uf>on  the  New  Englander?  Of  Calvin '  s  system?  Of 
Braintree?  Of  Joseph  Adams  and  family?  Whom  did  President 
Adams' s  father  marry?  When  was  John  Adams  born?  When  and 
•where  graduated  ?  To  what  profession  destined?  Who  were  some  of 
kis  classmates  f  \\rhat  was  the  custom  regarding  rank  in  College? 

What  is  said  of  Adams's  early  life?  Of  the  year  of  his  gradua- 
tion, etc"  f  Of  the  struggles  of  different  religious  sects? 

What  does  Adams  say  of  his  Perplexity  in  choosing  his  vocation, 
etc.  f  Of  Puritan  standards  and  theology,  etc.  ?  Of  Adams  contrasted 
with  other  statesman  ?  Of  self  reliance  and  self  esteem  ? 

Of  Mr.  Adams's  law  studies,  etc.?  Of  Adams' s  profits  as  a  law- 
yer f  Whom  did  Mr.  Adams  marry?  \\  hat  is  said  of  the  marriage? 
Of  Mr.  Adams  s  devotion  to  his  profession?  Of  Adams  and  Otis?  Of 
Adams  and  March  j,  777  /  /  Of  the  Stamp  Act  and  Mr.  Adams?  Of 
kis  associates,  etc.? 

Of  Chief  Justice  Oliver?  Of  the  Boston  Tea  Party?  Of  John  Ad- 
ams as  compared  with  Samuel  Adams  and  others?  Of  the  resolu- 
tion of  resistance,  etc.  ?  Of  the  response  of  the  colonies?  Of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress?  Of  Parliament?  Of  the  love  of  personal  liberty? 

Of  the  Feudal  system  ?  Of  fines  ?  Of  the  king  and  the  raising  of 
mon-:y?  Of  King  John  and  the  Magna  Charta,ctc.?  Of  George  III 
and '  '/{is  mother?  His  ministers  and  Pitt,  etc  ? 

What  is  said  of  North,  etc.  ?  Of  the  resistance  of  the  commercial 
States  f  ( If  the  journey  of  the  delegates  from  Massachusetts  ?  Of  Vir- 
ginia and  Massachusetts?  Of  tne  committee  on  which  Mr  Adams 
served?  Of  the  Declaration  of  Rights? 

Of  the  control  of  the  Congress  ?  Of  the  action  of  the  Congress,  etc.  f 
Of  the  suggestion  of  the  Provincial  Congress?  Of  a  commander-in- 
chief,  etc.? 

Of  the  points  gained  by  Adams?  Of  Mr.  Adams's  confiden- 
tialletters,etc.?  Of  his  estimate  of  Dickinson,  Hancock?  Of  their 
effects  ?  Of  Dickinson '  s  Olive  Branch  ? 


!68  JOHN  ADAMS. 

What  instructions  were  given  by  Massachusetts?  How  did 
Adams  find  the  Congress?  What  did  he  prophesy?  What. did  Paine 
write?  What  did  Adams  say  regarding  the  acts  of  Congress?  What 
were  the  difficulties  of  the  situation? 

Who  determined  to  popularize  the  local  government?  How  are 
the  Hamiltonian  and  Jeffersonian.  systems  compared?  What  is  said 
of  Ada/ns  and  Lee,  etc.?  What  committee  was  appointed  May  2^th? 
What  resolutions  were  adopted  June  ijth  ?  What  movement  began 
May  6th  ?  What  Preamble  was  adopted  May  i$th  ?  What  was  its  ef- 
fect, etc.  ?  What  is  said  of  the  debate  on  Lee's  resolution  ? 

What  document  was  reported  June  26th  ?  To  whom  had  its 
preparation  been  referred?  Who  wrote  it?  What  is  said  of  the  de- 
bate upon  it?  What  did  Adams  write  to  his  wife  in  the  successive 
paragraphs  of  the  sketch,  etc.?  What  is  said  of  Adams's  supreme  ef- 
fort? Of  the  sessions  of  the  Second  Continental  Congress?  Of  his 
work  on  committees?  Of  the  one  on  which  he  served  unwillingly? 

Of  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  the  Congress?  Of  the  jealousies, 
prevailing?  Of  the  want  of  appreciation  of  Washington  ?  Of  Wash- 
ington s  rank  among  men?  Of  the  denial  of  hostility  by  Adams  to- 
wards Washington,  etc.  ? 

What  was  Mr.  Adams  commissioned  to  do?  What  was  his  object 
in  going  to  Amsterdam  ?  What  was  the  character  of  the  French  min- 
ister? In  what  way  were  our  commissioners  humiliated?  What  did 
the  Americans  demand  should  be  their  western  boundary?  What  was 
Spain  s  counter  claim  ?  1 1 7iat  can  you  say  of  negotiations  concerning 
the  fisheries?  What  was  the  most  difficult  subject  with  which  they 
had  to  deal?  When  was  the  final  treaty  of  peace  signed? 

What  is  said  of  Adams  as  minister  to  England  and  of  his  ser- 
vices? Of  his  election  as  Vice  President?  Of  his  estimate  of  the  office f 
Of  Adams  and  Hamilton  ?  Of  the  abuse  of  H  'ashington  ? 

What  happened  when  Adams  demanded  the  fulfillment  of  the 
treaty  of  1783  ?  When  and  why  did  he  resign  ?  When  was  he  installed 
as  Vice  President?  IVIiic1"  -tarty  abused  both  Washington  and  Ad- 
ams? What  influence  a  the  French  Revolution  have  upon  Ameri- 
can feeling  and  policy  ?  i ',  'hat  great  mistake  in  policy  was  committed 
by  President  Adams?  Under  what  circumstances  were  the  famous 
Alien  and  Sedition  laws  passed?  What  did  the  Sedition  law  forbid? 
What  opposition  was  made  to  the  law  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  ? 

What  can  you  say  of  the  Federal  party  during  the  administra- 
tion of  John  Adams?  What  can  you  say  of  Jefferson  in  this  connec- 
tion ?  What  effect  did  his  election  to  the  Presidency  have  upon  the 
Federal  party?  What  did  the  Federalists  undertake  to  do  in  the 
closing  days  of  their  power? 

What  canyon,  say  of  the  appointment  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall? 
What  can  you  say  of  the  writings  of  A  dams  ?  How  did  the  reconcili- 
ation between  Jefferson  and  A  darns  come  about?  What  can  you  say  of 
the  death  of  these  two  men?  What  was  the  favorite  motto  of  John 
Adams? 


JOHN  ADAMS.  ,6o 

SUBJECTS  FOR  SPECIAL  STUDY. 

/.  The  Puritan  Character. 

2.  John  Adams  and  Samuel  Adams  Compared. 

j.  The  Feudal  System. 

/.  Character  of  George  III. 

j.  The  Continental  Congress. 

6.  The  Influence  of  the  Quakers. 

7.  The  Different  Colonial  Governments. 

8.  John  Dickinson. 
p.     Magna  Charta. 

w.     Samuel  Chase. 

II.     The   Various  Commissions  Appointed  by  the   United  States 
Government  During  this  Period. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  EVENTS  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  ADAMS. 

1735    Oct.  19.    John  Adams  born  at  Braintree  (Quincy),  Mass.  Spent 
his  early  youth  on  his  father's  farm. 

1755  Graduated   at   Harvard   College.       Became  schoolteacher  at 

Worcester. 

1756  Aug.  23.    Began  to  study  law  while  teaching. 

1758    Oct.  Came  to  Boston.    Nov.  6,  admitted   to  the  bar;  recom- 
mended by  Gridley,  leading  lawyer  of  the  colony. 
1761     Heard  Otis's  speech  on  Writs  of  Assistance. 

1764  Oct.  25.     Married  Abigail  Smith,  of  Weymouth,  clergyman's 

daughter. 

1765  Dec.  18.     Boston  chooses  Adams  as  colleague  with  Gridley  and 

Otis  for  argument  before  the  Governor  and  Council,  Dec.  20. 
1768    Moved  to  Boston.     Gov.  Bernard  offers  him  post  of  Advocate- 
General  in  the  Admiralty  Court.     He  refuses  it. 

1770  March  5,   "Boston  Massacre."     March  6,  Adams  and   Josiah 

Quincy  retained  as  counsel  for  Capt.  Preston  and  the  sol- 
diers. June  3,  elected  Representative  for  Boston.  Oct.  24- 
30,  Preston  tried  and  acquitted. 

1771  In*  ill  health:    removes  to  Braintree.     Despondent.    Office  in 

Boston. 

1772  In  autumn,  removed  to  Boston:  determines  to  avoid  politics. 

1774  June  17,  elected  one  of  the  five  representatives  of  Massachu- 

setts in  the  First  Continental  Congress,  Philadelphia,  Sept.  i. 
Active  on  committees  and  in  debates.  Starts  for  home  on 
Nov.  28. 

1775  May  5-10,  journey  to  Second  Congress.    Opposes  Dickinson's 

"Olive-Branch;      still  dares  not  say  "independence!"   Urges 


I?0  JOHN  ADAMS. 

adoption  of  Army  and  appointment  of  Washington;  effected 
June  15.  Home  in  August:  in  Congress,  Sept.  15:  on  many 
committees.  Home,  Dec.  Appointed  Chief  Justice  of  Mas- 
sachusetts: accepted:  never  served. 

1776  Jan.  24-Feb.  8,   to    Philadelphia   with   Gerry.     May  6-15,   new 

State  governments  advised:  Adams  assists  in  making  consti- 
tutions. June  28,  committee  on  Declaration  reports  it:  July 
3,  Adams  leads  debate  on  it.  Work  of  organization  of  busi- 
ness. Conference  with  Lord  Howe,  Sept.  n.  Went  home, 
Oct.  13. 

1777  In  Congress  till  Nov.  n.     Dec.  3,  receives  appointment,  Com- 

missioner to  France. 

1778  Feb.  13,  sails  from  Boston:    March  31,  reaches  Bordeaux:    at 

Paris,  April  8.     Organizes  the  work  of  the  commission. 

1779  June  17-Aug.  2,  voyage  home.     Elected  to  Massachusetts  con- 

vention, Aug.  9:  serves  from  opening,  Sept.  I  to  Nov.  10. 
Chosen  envoy  to  make  peace  with  England,  Sept.  27:  com- 
mission dated  Oct.  20:  accepted  Nov.  4.  Sailed  in  French 
frigate  Nov.  13.  Reached  Ferrol  Dec.  8. 

1780  In  Paris,  Feb.  5,  with  sons,  John  O_.  and  Charles.     Controversy 

with  Vcrgennes,  middle  of  June.  To  Holland,  July  27.  Pub- 
lishes information  about  the  United  States.  Thanks  of  Con- 
gress, Dec.  12. 

1781  Jan.  i,  commissioned    plenipotentiary   to    Holland.     To  Paris, 

July  6:  soon  returns:  continues  work  in  Holland. 

1782  April  19,  Holland  recogni/.es  independence;    Adams  received 

as  minister.  Loans  obtained:  commercial  treaty  obtained, 
Oct.  7.  Negotiation  with  England  begins  March  n:  with 
Oswald  as  agent,  April  6:  Adams  joins  Jay  and  Franklin  in 
Paris,  Oct.  26.  They  disobey  orders  of  Congress  and  nego- 
tiate without  Vergennes.  Nov.  30,  agreement  reached  and 
signed.  Dec.  4,  Adams  sends  resignation;  not  accepted. 
Commissioners  are  provoked  and  disgusted  by  Livingston's 
censure. 

1783  Jan.   20,    commissioners   and   English  agree  on  truce.     Final 

treaty  Sept.  3.  Sept.,  Adams  appointed  with  Jefferson  and 
Franklin  to  make  commercial  treaty  with  England.  Sept.  14, 
Adams  ill:  to  England  for  rest  and  health,  Oct.  24:  in  Lon- 
don, Oct.  26.  Dec.,  to  Holland. 

1^84  Same  commissioners  have  power  to  treat  with  any  nation,  and 
meet  at  Paris,  Aug.  30.  Mrs.  Adams  joins  him  Aug.  7.  House- 
keeping near  Paris,  Aug.  17. 

1785  Feb.  24,  Congress  appoints  him  minister  to  Great  Britain. 
Family  to  London,  Slay.  Adams  presented  to  King  George 
III,  June  I.  Finds  his  place  difficult. 

1787  Resigns:  resignation  accepted,  Oct.  5.      Congress  commends 

him. 

1788  April  20,  sails  from  England. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  ,;i 

1789    April  6,  declared  to  be  elected  Vice  President:  takes  seat,  New 
York,  April  20.    Often  called  to  give  casting  vote  in  Senate. 
1793    Vice  President  again. 

1797  Is  elected  President  by  three  votes  over  Jefferson.     Takes 

Washington's  Cabinet.  Hamilton's  leadership  in  the  party 
is  troublesome. 

1798  French  and  English  insolence  and  encroachments.    X  Y  Z  af- 

fair in  France:  war  spirit  aroused:  Adams  popular.  Navy  in- 
creased. Alien  Acts,  June  25  and  July  6:  Sedition  Act,  July 
14.  Kentucky  Resolutions,  Nov.  6:  Virginia  Resolutions, 
Dec.  2 1 . 

1799  Feb.,  New  Embassy  to  France:  it  made  a  treaty  Sept.  30,  1800. 

Continued  party  struggles.     Fries  condemned  for  treason. 

1800  Fries  pardoned.     Cabinet  changed.     Federal  party  fails:    Ad- 

ams not  re-elected. 

•  801  Quarrel  with  Jefferson.  Marshall  made  Chief  Justice.  'The 
Midnight  Judges."  Adams  retires.  Loses  his  son  Charles. 

1818  Oct.  28.,  Death  of  Mrs.  Adams.  Adams  previously  reconciled 
to  Jefferson. 

1820  Mr.  Adams  made  presidential  elector;  votes  for  Monroe.  Elect- 
ed to  Massachusetts  convention,  and  made  president  of  it, 
but  declines. 

1826    July  4,  Death  of  John  Adams,  almost  91  years  old. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

For  those  who  wish  to  read  extensively  the  following  works  are 
especially  commended: 

"Works  of  John  Adams,  with  Life,  etc."     By  his  grandson,  Charles 

Francis  Adams.     10  vols.,  8vo:   the  first  three  are  biographic. 
"Life  of  John  Adams."     By  John  Quincy  Adams  and  Charles  Francis 

Adams:   chiefly  by  C.  F.  Adams.    2  yols.,  I2mo.     (Nos.   I  and  a 

have  been  principally  used  for  this  biography.) 
"John  Adams."    By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr.  (American  Statesmen  Series.) 

l  vol.,  i::im>. 
"Constitutional   History  of  the   U.  S."     By   Hermann  Edward  Von 

Hoist.     Vol.  I. 
"History  of  the  U.  S.  under  the  Constitution."    By  James  Schouler. 

w  •      |      w 

Vol.  I. 
"Narrative  and   Critical    History  of  America."     By  Justin  Winsor. 

Vol.   VII.    (This   volume    gives  abundant   references  to  other 

books.) 
"History  of  the  People  of  the  U.  S."   By  John  Bach  McMaster.   Vols. 

I  and  II. 
"Cyclopedia  of  Political  Science."    By  J.  J.  Salor.    3  vols.,  8vo. 

"The  Guide  to  American   History,"  Channing  and  Harz,  I  vol., 
I2mo,  is  an  excellent  manual  of  reference  for  all  students. 


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